New Technologies That May Save Lives

October 19, 2007 by Mary Anne Simpson

New NEC LCD Medical Technology

As part of the M-Taiwan project, NEC and Tatung will demonstrate life saving technologies at the WiMax Forum next week. The forum will display the efforts of NEC in providing ambulance to hospital large file transmissions without interruption. A NEC Research and Development Center will open by years end for future enhancements of the technologies.

The combined efforts of NEC and Tatung to implement WiMax will go on show next week at the WiMax Forum. This is part of the M-Taiwan project focused on providing mobile emergency services including transmission of x-ray, patient medical history, vitals while patients are en route to the hospital. WiMax is particularly suited for ambulances, according to NEC press releases.

The efforts and contributions of NEC allowed WiMax to achieve 6 Mbps transmission per user. This is vital in exchanging large data sources such as patient records and x-rays.

WiMax is a high speed broadband service that is particularly designed for use in vehicles traveling at excessive speeds. The WiMax will transmit vital information about the patient while en route to the hospital. This vital information allows emergency physicians to relay life saving instructions to the paramedic at the accident scene and in those vital minutes following a traumatic event.

A NEC WiMax Research and Design Center will open by the end of 2007 in collaboration with the Taiwanese government. The Center will focus on creating an environment for vendors to utilize the end-to- end wireless platform and base station in the creation of new and life saving applications and technologies.

The experimental trials of NEC and WiMax took place recently in the city of Hualien. It was a trial commissioned by the Taiwanese government to implement the M-Taiwan project. The city of Hualien plans to use the system for tourism and medical services.

The preliminary test results indicate the system did very well in transmitting smoothly through base stations and in providing stability within the vehicle while traveling at high speeds. The new research and design center will enable other technologies to build on the work of NEC WiMax.

NEC in a separate press release announced two new 21.3 inch amorphous silicon color thin film transistors , liquid crystal display modules ideal for medical applications. These two highly sophisticated displays are ideal for medical imaging diagnosis of patient illness or trauma. The product samples will be available in late November, 2007.