Transcript Title of presentation goes here

Medical Emergency
Communication Assistant
(MECA)
Cali Antonellis
Austin Cormier
Michael Cormier
David Hughes
Electrical and Computer Engineering
MECA Overview
 Motivation:
• Existing hospital-ambulance communication systems have
only basic functionality
• The ability of dispatchers to keep track of precise real-time
ambulance locations is currently minimal
• Any additional functionality in this area could improve a
hospital’s ability to effectively save lives
 System goals:
• Provide hospital with real-time location of ambulances
• Allow streaming audio/video between ambulance and hospital
• Send ambulance statistics (velocity, ETA) and patient status
(pulse, blood pressure) information to hospital base station
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MECA Vision
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MECA Block Diagram
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Google Maps API
 Used to display all
ambulance locations in an
interactive map window
 JavaScript code accepts
incoming GPS coordinates
from Python
 Map is continuously
refreshed with updated
ambulance coordinates
 Opens in embedded
Mozilla Firefox window in
Python
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Base Station GUI
 Details
• Developed with Glade
interface designer and
Python
• Side by side embedded
Google Maps API and
Ekiga teleconferencing
client
 Functionality
• Provide API with updated
ambulance coordinates
• Display ambulance speed,
bearing, latitude,
longitude
• Clicking on video link
button initiates Ekiga chat
window connection
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Ambulance Unit Functionality
 Stationary ambulance unit consists only of microphone,
speaker, and movable web cam
 Communication link established automatically upon
connection request by base station
 Mock GPS coordinates are sent via UDP to base station
device
 Design decision
• Does the ambulance need a video feed from the doctor?
• Deemed not necessary: unit is stationary within ambulance
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MECA Software
 Ambulance to Basestation connection via IP
networking
• UDP(connectionless sockets) for best effort data
transmission
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GPS Interfacing
 Design
• Ambulance PC accepts latitude and longitude coordinates from
GPS receiver
• Mock coordinates are sent and bearing is calculated by base
station
• Haversine equations
 Requirements and Specifications
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Position accuracy : Approx. 2m 2DRMS
Velocity accuracy : 1mph tolerance
Startup time : Max. 45s
Update rate : Once per second
GPS protocol : NMEA 0183 V2.2
Power supply : 5V DC (USB From Laptop)
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Experiment
 Voice / Audio link with Ekiga Experiment
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Set up two Linux machines, one with a web cam
Ran base station script, connected to ambulance unit
Video and audio capabilities functioned correctly
Found an approximate .25 second audio/video delay
 Ambulance Plotting Experiment
• Run script to set up Google Maps API through local server
• Plot ambulance using mock coordinates
• Ambulance image follows predetermined route and orientates
its bearings according to driving direction
• Results show that ambulance image is displayed at correct
position
• Velocity fluctuation seems to correlate with image
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Constraints & MDR Requirements
 Constraints
• Reliability: MECA would have to be near 100% reliable to be
accepted in the medical community
• Price: Requirement of laptops may deter potential customers
 Satisfied MDR Requirements
• Transfer rate minimum of 400Kbits/s to support video
conferencing
• GPS coordinates updated every three seconds
• GPS accuracy of within 10 meters
 MDR Requirements not met
• Ambulance system does not start upon booting the computer
• Cannot begin conference by clicking on ambulance marker
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Ethical Considerations
 Does MECA violate the privacy of the patient?
• By gaining access to the network in use, outsiders may obtain
access to confidential patient information
 Solution: Disallow sharing of any information that may be
used in identity theft (medical records)
 Changes to previous MECA concept avoided issue of being
overly dependent on open source software
 Contribution to society?
• Saves lives by giving doctors earlier patient exposure
 Hindrance to society?
• May alleviate importance of EMT field experience
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CDR Requirements
 CDR goals
• Actual GPS coordinate implementation
• Multiple ambulance units on map
• Ambulance marker click established connection
• Health-monitoring data collaboration
• On-board computer powered by ambulance battery through
multiple voltage converters
• Ambulance script executes upon system startup
• Google Maps and Ekiga in same window
 3G network vs wifi
• Slow 3G data rate: 75 – 150 kB/s range
• 3G coverage far exceeds any wifi network range
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AT&T 3G network coverage
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Application of Engineering Knowledge
 3 ECE Courses:
• ECE 242: Data Structures and Algorithms (for JavaScript
programming of Google Maps display window)
• CSE 374: Computer Networks and the Internet (for wifi-based
prototype connection)
• CMPSCI 377: Operating Systems (all applications used for
development were installed and used with Ubuntu Linux)
 ECE 242 provided the foundations for much of the MECA
code
• Knowledge of object-oriented programming made learning
Python and JavaScript feasible
• Class diagrams used for design of system from start to finish
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Outside Sources
 External sources outside of ECE
• W3 Schools tutorials (W3schools.com) for JavaScript
development of the Google Maps display
• Python’s tutorial pages (Docs.python.org/tutorials) to learn
the syntax of the Python language
• Python provides the backbone of our code
• The tutorials were used thoroughly in order to learn how to use
Python
• GPS service daemon page (Gpsd.berlios.de) to research GPSD
interfacing with python to retrieve GPS coordinates
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Questions?
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