Medical Emergency Communication Assistant (MECA) ‏

1. Cali Antonellis Austin Cormier Michael Cormier David Hughes Medical Emergency Communication Assistant(MECA)‏

2. 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

3. MECA Vision

4. MECA Block Diagram

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. MECA Software • Ambulance to Basestation connection via IP networking • UDP(connectionless sockets) for best effort data transmission

9. 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 • 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)‏

10. Experiment • Voice / Audio link with Ekiga Experiment • 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. AT&T 3G network coverage

15. 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

16. 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

17. Questions?