5G Enabled Connected Ambulances
Research type
Research Study
Full title
5G enabled connected Ambulance for improving Prehospital Healthcare
IRAS ID
293144
Contact name
Nada Philip
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
This project aims to enhance prehospital healthcare by wirelessly connecting Ambulances to hospitals and remote doctors, using 5G networks, thereby enabling delivery of medical care advise and guidance before the patient is transferred to the hospital setting. Currently the exchange of information between an ambulance and a hospital is based on a basic two-way radio communication. The prehospital data that is produced whilst attending a patient is not accessible to the hospital in its original form. This project aims to wirelessly communicate all the prehospital data and activities that take place before a patient arrives to a hospital. This communication will include exchange of vital signs and in-ambulance video streaming, which will be accessible to the connected hospital or physician (receiving end).
This study will include trials with various ambulance services to understand the feasibility of this project.
The quality of the data that will be transmitted will be analysed using different performance metrics. As medical data is highly sensitive, so the quality estimation at the receiving end will ensure data integrity in terms of data losses. Smart Video compression will be used to reduce the size of in-ambulance video transmission so that network bandwidth can be saved and successful delivery of video services can be made possible. A 5G connectivity module/router will help in establishing and maintaining the communication between the connected ambulance and hospital.
Additionally, a small questionnaire based survey will help understand the concerns of the ambulance crews about their level of comfort and confidence regarding the connected ambulances.REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0266
Date of REC Opinion
4 Aug 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion