Electrical and Computer Engineering

Cali AntonellisAustin Cormier

Michael CormierDavid Hughes

Medical Emergency Communication Assistant

(MECA)

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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

Design decision• Does the ambulance need a video feed from the doctor?• Deemed not necessary: unit is stationary within ambulance

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

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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• 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• 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?