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

2. 2 Electrical and Computer Engineering MECA Overview  Motivation: Existing hospital to 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 requirements: MECA will provide the hospital’s ambulance dispatcher with all ambulance locations MECA will allow audio/visual communication between ambulance and hospital employees GPS information will be used to calculate helpful ambulance statistics

3. 3 Electrical and Computer Engineering MECA Vision

4. 4 Electrical and Computer Engineering MECA Block Diagram

5. 5 Electrical and Computer Engineering Physical Ambulance Layout ATX computer powered by ambulance battery Adjustable hanging arm attached to ceiling Camera and microphone wired through to the end of the arm Speakers secured to ambulance siding No EMT interaction with computer will be required!

6. 6 Electrical and Computer Engineering Google Maps API  Opens embedded Mozilla Firefox window in Python  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

7. 7 Electrical and Computer Engineering Base Station GUI  Details Developed with Glade interface designer and Python Embedded Google Maps API and Ekiga teleconferencing client  Functionality Provide API with updated ambulance coordinates Display ambulance speed, bearing, lat/long, and patient vitals Clicking on video link button initiates Ekiga chat window connection

8. 8 Electrical and Computer Engineering Ambulance Unit Functionality  Design decision Does the ambulance need a video feed from the doctor? Deemed not necessary  Carputer loaded with Ubuntu Linux running MECA software  Carputer boots up on vehicle “ignition”  Communication link established automatically upon connection request by base station  GPS coordinates and patient vitals sent via UDP to base station ADD PICTURE HERE

9. 9 Electrical and Computer Engineering MECA Software

10. 10 Electrical and Computer Engineering GPS Interfacing  Design Ambulance mini computer accepts latitude and longitude coordinates from GPS receiver Coordinates sent to base station where bearing and speed are calculated Haversine equations  Requirements and Specifications Position accuracy : Approx. 2m 2DRMS GPS 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 computer) ‏

11. 11 Electrical and Computer Engineering 3G vs WiFi  WiFi Data rate: 54M bit/s Range: ~100m from router  3G Data rate: 384 kbit/s (low velocity) ‏ 128kbit/s (high velocity) ‏ Range: ~80km from cellphone tower  Maximum Ekiga data rate: 160 kbit/s

12. 12 Electrical and Computer Engineering AT&T 3G network coverage

13. 13 Electrical and Computer Engineering Experiments & Data Collection  Ambulance cold start: ~1min45sec  3G data transmission: 1304/1304 packets = 100%  3g reconnection time: 19.3 seconds

14. 14 Electrical and Computer Engineering Constraints & Requirements  Constraints Reliability: MECA would have to be near 100% reliable to be accepted in the medical community MECA can only operate in areas of 3G coverage  Satisfied FPR Requirements Streaming audio/video over 3G network Actual GPS coordinate implementation Multiple ambulance units on Google Maps Health-monitoring data collaboration Sending mock blood pressure and pulse Hook up carputer and install MECA software  Touch-ups for Demo Day Ambulance ETA GUI finalization

15. 15 Electrical and Computer Engineering 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

16. 16 Electrical and Computer Engineering 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

17. 17 Electrical and Computer Engineering 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