Smart ambulance boasts improved comms

An Australian-designed ‘smart ambulance’ is set to revolutionise on-scene communications with hospital emergency departments.

A cutting-edge ambulance that will transmit real-time information about patients to hospital emergency departments has been demonstrated to ambulance authorities from Australia and New Zealand.

Known as the Smart Ambulance, it is the result of an alliance between Byron Group, an Australian ambulance manufacturer and exporter, and Ferno, a provider of emergency care solutions.

The new ambulance, revealed at a technology forum at Byron’s Smithfield plant in Sydney, promises to provide a safer working environment for paramedics, more efficient fleet management for ambulance services and improved communications about patient conditions with hospitals.

Glen Walker, Byron’s CEO, said the innovations in ambulance engineering and technology represent a revolution in ambulance design and manufacturing in Australia.

“Ferno’s world-leading products in patient transport, safety and vehicle intelligence systems will transform the medical vehicles we build and supply to ambulance and emergency services,” said Walker.

“Hospital emergency departments will be able to track changes in the patient’s condition in real time like never before. The ambulance will transmit the patient’s vital information, such as ECG readings, and cameras inside the ambulance will enable the hospital to view the patient while in transit.

“When the ambulance arrives at the hospital, they will already know the patient’s condition. The improved data flow between the ambulance in transit and the hospital will save valuable time in the triage process, where seconds are critical.”

View of the smart ambulance equipment bay.

Walker said the wellbeing of paramedics is paramount in the design of the Smart Ambulance.

“The Smart Ambulance will have a duress system activation accessible from anywhere in the vehicle or by the paramedic’s personal device that activates 360° digital video recording, in-car voice warnings and distress texts to multiple agencies with vehicle identification and location.”

Ferno’s ACETECH cloud-based vehicle intelligence system will provide fleet managers with a stream of real-time data about the ambulance’s operations, deployment, driving behaviour, fuel costs, systems status and maintenance schedule.

The ACETECH Integrated Vehicle Intelligence System provides a fully integrated vehicle performance monitoring and control system to ensure fuel efficiency savings, protect assets and capture real-time and ongoing data to assist fleet management decisions. The ACETECH iNtelligent camera monitoring solutions enable emergency departments to see the patient as well as hear the paramedic’s commentary.

The view from internal and external cameras can be transmitted to hospitals and police for patient care and duress situations, respectively.

The addition of a roaming personal duress system means the vehicle can also act as a hotspot for officers out of the vehicle. A personal duress signal instigated by an officer, from outside, can be transmitted back to base, including GPS location, via the ambulance hotspot. If the paramedic and the incident are close to the ambulance, the external ambulance cameras can be used by the command centre to create a type of ‘remote eye on the situation’, which can further help in advising other emergency personnel, such as police, of the status of the scene.

The Smart Ambulance doesn’t just have a single duress button, but also two strategically placed ‘emergency duress strips’ that are accessible from all seating positions in the vehicle. One touch of these ceiling-mounted strips will not only send a signal back to base but will also activate the in-vehicle voice commands system, alerting occupants that a duress has been activated and that recording is in progress. It will also simultaneously capture the recording of both vision and audio of the activity aboard the ambulance via the internal cameras.

Interior view of Byron Group’s Smart Ambulance.

Onboard ACETECH Wi-Fi provides in-vehicle connectivity with Wi-Fi-enabled devices and provides excellent bandwidth for wired failover connections or internet connectivity in remote locations. Rugged housing and industrial-class hardware ensure operability in the harshest application environments and external antennas enable installation in hardened locations and enclosures.

Joe Bourgraf, US-based president and CEO at Ferno, said in Sydney that the system was the result of five years of research and development and worldwide consultation with medical practitioners, first responders and ambulance services.

“The Smart Ambulance is at the cutting edge globally of onboard vehicle intelligence, patient care and safety standards for paramedics, and communication,” he said.

Representatives of ambulance services from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, the ACT, WA, SA, NT, Tasmania, Vietnam, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Ireland have seen the new Smart Ambulance demonstrated at Byron’s plant in Smithfield.

Top image caption: Exterior view of the Smart Ambulance, produced by Australian firm Byron Group in collaboration with emergency care solutions provider Ferno.