Panacea's Cloud

The Problem

Communication in a mass casualty disaster scene is limited and difficult for medical personnel in the absence of necessary communication infrastructure and collaboration technologies. It leads to misdirected and delayed triage of scene-wide critically injured patients, especially when there is a large volume of patients needing diverse care levels.

Our Solution

Panacea’s Cloud provides an effective communication and coordination tool in disaster situations. This system utilizes an Intelligent Dashboard, video feeds, and the integration of Internet of Things in order to provide optimum support for the duration of the emergency. Our work lays the foundation for next-generation ICS for an Incident Commander to deploy resources at the right locations more efficiently, and reduce triage time, mitigate over/under triage, and thus increase triage care levels.

Secure

Protects patient data and provides a secure network for communication between the Incident Commander and first responders

Mobile

Completely infrastructure independent and can be set up anywhere in the world

Intelligent

Aids in coordinating your fleet of First Responders and provides effective communication during disaster situations

Features

Panacea’s Cloud provides a variety of features that effectively aid first responders and Incident Commanders in communicating during a disaster situation.

• Disaster Incident Responder Theater Dashboard for scene situational awareness
• Internet of Things Integration for effective audio and video coordination: Heads Up Displays (i.e., Google Glass and Recon Jet), Virtual Beacons (i.e., iBeacons)
• Stand-alone mobile cloud system that can function without the help of outside networks and wifi coverage
• Small form factor, rugged enclosure and easily deployable

Responder Theater Dashboard

The Responder Theater Dashboard allows the Incident Commander to efficiently instruct and direct first responders in an emergency situation.

• Map of patients and first responders, providing location and status of each person
• Ability to enter new patients and staff into a database
• Ability to create and maintain an incident, receiving updates in real-time
• Video and audio feeds of first responders to provide instruction
• Messaging system to provide constant and up-to-date communcation
• Data storage after the incident for review and documentation

Heads Up Display

Through the use of Heads Up Displays (ex. Google Glass and Recon Jet) Panacea’s Cloud provides the ability to share audio and video feeds between first responders and Incident Commanders. This communication allows for real-time instruction and gives the Incident Commander mass amounts of information that can aid in making more informed decisions.

Virtual Beacons

Panacea’s Glass utilizes Virtual Beacons in order to document both the location and statuses of patients in an emergency situation. Through the use of low energy Bluetooth, these Virtual Beacons are able communicate with our system and place patients on a map for the Incident Commander to see.

Network

Panacea’s Cloud is composed of a mesh network that runs independently of WiFi and other outside networks. This fault-tolerant network and mobile cloud allow for deployment anywhere and eliminate failures that take down the whole system.

Enclosure

Panacea’s Cloud is entirely contained within a single enclosure. This conveniently small, rugged, and waterproof enclosure makes it optimal for transportation and usability in all environments.

Publications

• F. Demir, S. Ahmad, P. Calyam, D. Jiang, R. Huang, I. Jahnke, “A Next-Generation Augmented Reality Platform for Mass Casualty Incidents”, Journal of Usability Studies, 2017.
• P. Calyam, D. Chemodanov, R. Gargees, B. Morago, R. Pelapur, Z. Oraibi, Y. Duan, G. Seetharaman, K. Palaniappan, “Incident-Supporting Visual Cloud Computing Utilizing Software-Defined Networking, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (SI on Visual Computing in the Cloud: Mobile Computing), 2016.
• E. Cheng, K. Meiss, K. Park, J. Gillis, D. Weber, S. Ahmad, P. Calyam, “Contextual Geotracking Service of Incident Markers in Disaster Search-and-Rescue Operations”, IEEE Symposium on Network Computing and Applications (NCA), 2016.
• J. Gillis, P. Calyam, A. Bartels, M. Popescu, S. Barnes, J. Doty, D. Higbee, S. Ahmad, “Panacea’s Glass: Mobile Cloud Framework for Communication in Mass Casualty Disaster Triage”, IEEE Mobile Cloud, 2015.
• M. Vassell, O. Apperson, P. Calyam, J. Gillis, S. Ahmad, “Intelligent Dashboard for Augmented Reality based Incident Command Response Co-ordination”, IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC), 2016.

Contributors

Dr. Prasad Calyam: Principal Investigator | Computer Science

Dr. Sal Ahmad: Co-Principal Investigator | Surgery

Dr. Isa Jahnke: Investigator | Information Experience

John Gillis: Undergraduate Researcher | Computer Engineering

Dmitrii Chemodanov: Graduate Researcher | Computer Science

Olivia Apperson: Undergraduate Researcher | Computer Science

Duo Jiang: Graduate Researcher | Computer Science

Rui Huang: Graduate Researcher | Computer Science

Fatih Demir: PostDoctoral Researcher | Information Experience