Hot Topic

The JETS Pre-Engineering Times Hot Topics column highlights current research related to the featured engineering discipline each month. JETS wants you to know the new field advances being made through the exciting discoveries of research.

This month's hot topic focuses on the research and development of a Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in Disasters (WIISARD) at the University of California, San Diego and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

Natural disasters and terrorist actions involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents could produce large numbers of civilian casualties that would overwhelm existing healthcare facilities and capabilities, jeopardizing the lives of victims and healthcare providers alike. To address this situation, Cal- (IT)^² researchers are developing the Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in Disasters (WIISARD). WIISARD is designed to be deployed at the site of a weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD) attack or natural disaster to support the care of large numbers of victims for a period of hours to days while national medical resources are being marshaled to aid in delivery of definitive care.

WIISARD is an integrated application that will bring cutting-edge wireless Internet technologies from the hospital to the field treatment station to address life-threatening medical conditions. It has components that enhance the situational awareness of first responders, facilitate recording of medical data, aid in monitoring of severely ill patients, and facilitate communication of data to hospitals. The prototype system will undergo evaluation through a three-year grant period, beginning with controlled studies of individual components and culminating with a randomized trial conducted during a simulated WMD attack.

WIISARD will have 5 interlocking software/hardware systems linked by a location-aware system and an advanced wireless Internet networking infrastructure, designed to be fault tolerant and to intelligently deal with variations in quality of service.

For more information, please visit: https://www.wiisard.org/more
PIs: Leslie Lenert
Co-PIs: Ramesh Rao
Related People: William Griswold , Theodore Chan , James Killeen , Chaitan Baru , Douglas Palmer , Steve Brown
Other Institutions: SPAWAR (U.S. Navy) , Local fire departments and emergency medical responders , County of San Diego Office of Public Health
Funding: National Library of Medicine , NIH
Sponsors: Verizon Wireless , QUALCOMM , Ericsson , SAIC