An integrated queuing and certainty factor theory model for efficient edge computing in remote patient monitoring systems

Remote Patient Monitoring Systems (RPMS) require efficient resource management to prioritize life-critical data in latency-sensitive healthcare environments. This research introduces an Integrated Queuing and Certainty Factor Theory (IQCT) model aimed at optimizing bandwidth allocation and task scheduling within fog-edge-cloud architectures. IQCT prioritizes patient requests in real time by classifying them into emergency, warning, and normal categories using certainty factor(CF) –based urgency assessment. Simulated on Raspberry Pi fog nodes with the UCI Heart Disease dataset, its performance was benchmarked against FCFS, PQ, and WFQ using metrics such as latency, energy consumption, and response time under varying workloads. IQCT reduced latency for emergency requests by 54.5% and improved network efficiency by 30.08% compared to FCFS. It also lowered response and execution times by 49.5% and 36%, and decreased fog-layer energy consumption by 30.8%. Scalability tests confirmed stable quality of service (QoS) under peak loads, demonstrating adaptability to dynamic demand. The adaptation of PQ and CF theory can lead to more efficient and optimized performance in RPMS. The IQCT model has significantly reduced the latency by 54.5% in emergency situations, in comparison with the existing models.