“A new ambulance communications system will enable doctors to diagnose and begin treating critically ill patients before they reach hospital.”
Sounds like telemedicine of some form eh?
Well, you are right, except in this case, its about the underlying technology that is of interest. Announcing WiMAX , a microwave access technology that can deliver data at up to 75 megabits per second over a range of 70km between fixed points (802.16.d), or its mobile version can provide 15mb/s over a four-kilometre radius.
Impressed? Well apparently WiMAX is not new, but the research team on the EU-funded WEIRDproject (cool name huh) extended the resilience and flexibility of the WiMAX technology and created a user-friendly package that can easily be used in ambulances by non-computer specialists.
“One of the most important features of the ambulance communications system is its ability to create end-to-end links between two points by seamlessly integrating the WiMAX signal with the other wireless communication technologies encountered, such as mobile telephony.
The WEIRD researchers developed software that takes advantage of the features of ‘next-generation networks’. NGNs layer information, decoupling the applications from the underlying transport stratum. Whatever the underlying network, the ambulance’s signals will be passed seamlessly, end to end.”
I reckon there are many use for WiiMAX in the clinical setting, as an enabler of may telemedicine projects.
Check out the WERID project here.
BinaryHealthCare (BNHC) 