- Astrium’s OURSES
project is offering innovative and effective satellite applications for medical care
services
- This non-intrusive
system facilitates the work of medical staff and improves the quality of
care for patients in rural areas
A video link with doctors
The
comprehensive medical care system has been installed at a residential care home
for dependent elderly people in the Hautes-Pyrénées area of France and at a local doctor’s
surgery. The applications developed allow nurses at the home to communicate
with a doctor by video if necessary. The doctor can also download and consult the medical data collected by the system
at any time.
The
system has several functions, including surveillance of people at risk – such
as Alzheimer’s sufferers. The system sends a warning if any incidents are detected, i.e. should the person fall,
leave their room or the home, or become agitated in the night.
A
new nurse’s table, equipped with a
full set of medical instruments, can send the data to patients’ doctors via a
wireless network and satellite link. This prevents doctors, who are often based
more than 50 km away from the home, from making unnecessary journeys. Finally,
an electrocardiogram system can also be used to analyse a patient’s cardiac signal
and send warnings to the doctor if any anomalies are detected.
Service
still in use
The
services developed have received a warm welcome from medical personnel and patients
alike, and have proved the capacity of space technologies to provide care to people. The
local council, which has been supplied with satellite equipment and a wireless
network, is sharing the cost of the high-speed internet access with villagers and
has decided to prolong and maintain the service for patients.
Astrium
Satellites managed the project, which received contributions from the LAAS-CNRS,
IMS Bordeaux, ENST-GET and TéSA research centres. The French Space Agency (CNES)
and the manufacturers Thales Alenia Space, Medessat and APX-Synstar also
contributed to the project.
Over a
30-month period, Ourses was co-financed by the French Finance and Industry
Ministry’s Directorate-General for Enterprise
and Industry (DGE), which provided €1.6 million of the project’s total €3.7 million
budget. The DGE has a special fund for financing the projects of French competitive clusters.
The Ourses project was approved by the Aerospace Valley
global competitive cluster in 2006.
For more
information, please go to www.ourses-project.fr
Astrium,
a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence
space systems and services. In 2008, Astrium had a turnover of €4.3 billion and
more than 15,000 employees in France,
Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain
and the Netherlands.
Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers
and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground
segment and Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite
services.
EADS
is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS
generated revenues of €43.3 billion and employed a workforce of more than 118,
000.
Press
contacts:
Daniel
Mosely (Astrium UK) Tel.: +44 (0)1 438 77 8180
Matthieu
Duvelleroy (Astrium FR)
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 77 75 80 32
Ralph
Heinrich (Astrium GER)
Tel. :+49 (0) 89 607 33971
Francisco
Lechón (Astrium SP)
Tel.: +34 91 586 37 41
