British company RDT is showing its new Tempus IC lightweight telemedicine system at the Middle East Business Aviation Show (MEBA) in Dubai.
Introduced at last month’s NBAA show in Orlando, Tempus IC is designed to obtain detailed medical data – including pulse, blood pressure and heart rhythms - if a passenger falls ill in flight. It then passes the information via Inmarsat satcoms or another suitable link to specialist ground-based doctors like those of US company MedAire. The information allows the doctors to diagnose the patient’s condition and advise the crew on immediate treatment and tell them if a diversion is necessary.
“The latest business aircraft are flying higher and further than ever before,” says RDT chief executive Graham Murphy. “Investing to prepare for an inflight emergency is a responsible thing to do.”
The company says it already holds over a hundred orders for Tempus IC from VIP aircraft operators, airlines Emirates and V Australia, and other customers. Emirates has selected the system for installation across its fleet, including the new Airbus A380s.
Tempus IC is smaller, lighter and more robust than the first-generation Tempus 2000. Its medical data-gathering facilities are combined with real-time voice and video communications in a water-resistant unit about the size of a desk telephone. Imagery can be streamed over Inmarsat with the help of the latest H264 video compression technology while the aircraft’s crew talk to the ground using wired or wireless headsets. Built-in GPS provides accurate aircraft position information.
This is the first time that RDT has exhibited at MEBA. “This event is an excellent opportunity for us to show an important market that getting the best medical attention no longer depends on being in the right place at the right time,” says Murphy. “The business aviation market is where we started out 10 years ago and it remains extremely important to our success, currently accounting for about 40 per cent of our customer base.”
RDT delivered the first units to customers last month. The company’s existing client base, using earlier variants of Tempus, includes Royal Jet, Dubai Air Wing, the Bahrain Royal Flight and Royal Flight Oman in the Middle East, plus Virgin Atlantic and bmi, Fortune 500 business jet owners, VIP charter operators such as Jet Aviation and PrivatAir, and the US military.
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