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Safe Ride Standards for patient Evacuation Using Unmanned

NATO'S RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY GROUP 184

Evacuation Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

ATA TATRC Day30 April 2011

Tampa, Florida

David M. Lam, MDTATRC IPA

Secretary RTG-184

“This presentation representsThis presentation representsThe opinions of the author, and

Not necessarily those of TATRC,MRMC, the United States Army,

or NATO”

Some Illustrations courtesy of Gil Hirschorn, IDF, Michael Beebe, TATRC,and BG Erich Rödig (Ret), GAF

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MEDEVAC•MEDICALLY-CONTROLLED•MAY BE DEDICATED•MEDICAL PERSONNELEQUIPMENT FOR IN FLIGHT CARE•EQUIPMENT FOR IN-FLIGHT CARE

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CASEVAC

CONTROLLED BY LINE, NOT MEDICSNO MEDICAL PERSONNELNO CARE EN-ROUTE

To Evaluate the State of the Art for UAV development, and

THE TASK FOR RTG-184

Art for UAV development, and to create a set of Safe Ride

Standards for patient Evacuation Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Thi ti it ill tt t t d l id b dThis activity will attempt to develop an evidence-based reference resource which can be used by UAV developers… Absolute G tolerances of casualties with various injuries will be investigated, as will rate of G-onset. (excerpt from HFM-

184 Terms of Reference)

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NATIONS PARTICIPATING

Germany (Chairman)Israel

United KingdomUnited States

U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Pamphlet (TRADOC) PAM 525-66

Future Operating Capability 09-06Health Services Support:

“Future Soldiers will utilize unmanned vehicles, robotics and standoff equipment to recover wounded and injured Soldiers from high-risk areas, with minimal exposure.”

US Army Capability Concept Plan for Army Aviation Operations 2015-2024

Public Law 109-364 SEC 941 – Enacted 17 Oct 06John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

2007

The Secretary of Defense shall develop a policy, to be applicable throughout the department of defense, on research, development, test and evaluation, procurement, and operation of unmanned systems.

DEVELOPING DOCTRINE

TRADOC PAM 525-7-15 “ Army aviation capabilities will contribute to achieving the future Modular Force sustain capability requirements…… the capability of UAS to provide rapid movement of planned logistics support that enables precise delivery of supplies to forward battlefield locations.”

- “ Unmanned aircraft will ….also be capable of extraction of wounded .“

, p , p y• An identification of mission and mission requirements, including

mission requirements for the military departments and joint mission requirements, for which unmanned systems may replace manned systems.

• A preference for unmanned systems in acquisition programs for new systems, including a requirement under any such program for the development of a manned system for a certification that an unmanned system is incapable of meeting program requirements.

• The integration of unmanned and manned systems to enhance support of missions identified in paragraph (1)…

Maritime Forces 2030Free Form Medical Deterrent System

• MF2030 advanced battlefield transport will make use of unmanned autonomous Vehicles

• Advanced life support systems such as the Army’s LSTAT will improve enroute care

• Telemedicine, including robotics-enhanced surgery, will serve as a force multiplier

“…would a means to fly in and extract isolated personnel without putting

additional personnel in harms way be of value? The answer to that question is an obvious yes!”

CWO4 Michael Durant, USA (ret)Pilot, SUPER SIX FOUR, 160thSOAR

Battle of MogadishuOPERATION GOTHIC SERPENT

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Global Hawk Predator/Reaper

SAMPLING OF POTENTIAL VTOL PLATFORMSToday Tomorrow On The Drawing Boards

Kaman KMax

Boeing UnmannedLittle Bird

Northrop Grumman/

Urban Aeronautics AirMule

Dragonfly Pictures DP-5XT

Northrop Grumman/Bell Fire-X (based onBell 407 manned helo)

EADS QH-72 (basedOn EC-145/UH-72A)

Boeing A-160 Hummingbird

Piasecki Aircraft Notional UAS

+ Many Others

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• In Scope:R l f C iti l M di l It

RTG-184 POTENTIAL USE CASES

• Resupply of Critical Medical Items• Casualty Extraction (short range -to

corpsman or medic)• Casualty Evacuation (CASEVAC) (i.e.,

“vehicle of opportunity”)

• Out of Scope:• Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) (i.e.,

dedicated & properly equipped platform with medically trained crew)

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Cargo-Carrying UAV State of the Art Concept of Operations

Doctrine and Policy (All Nations) Clinical ContraindicationsLegal/Certification Issues

Development of Minimal Technical Standards and flight profiles

Proposed limitations on aircraft andProposed limitations on aircraft and use (New Policy/Doctrine)

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KEY SAFETY CONCERNS

• Crashworthiness\ systems redundancy\emergency procedures\ contingency oremergency procedures\ contingency or adaptive missions\ management of unexpected events\ power management/ performance…..

• “Manrating”

• Management of unexpected eventsg p(e.g. enemy, weather, terrain, dynamic situation)

PROPOSED ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Considered individually and cumulatively, and measured from casualty compartment

•Acceleration (including deceleration) (single axis, two axis, three axis)

• Instantaneous• Sustained

•Shock (single axis, two axis, three axis)

•Temperature •Pressure Altitude •Humidity•Acoustic•Illumination•Time of exposure•Air Qualityaxis)

•Vibration• Short duration (how short is

short?)• Sustained

•Air Quality•Electromagnetic Environment (EME)•Anthropomorphics (level, head up, head down?)

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• From the frontline back for continued treatment and/or further evacuation by

CASEVAC UAV: Operating Concept and Considerations For Use - Issues

yconventional means.

• Short distance to the nearest medical echelon.

With suitable medical equipment and monitoringAppropriate litter fixationpp pFlight conditions equal to conventional RW Medevac - weather, avoiding extreme maneuvers, high altitude etc.Medical condition:

Mildly injured, moderate, severe ?Stable, conscious, alert ?No need for escort?

CASUALTY EVACUATION (CASEVAC) UAS CONOPS

Injury

FRC

BAS

Notional capabilities- 250 km round Trips Distance- 1 k lbs Objective

MEDEVAC

CASEVAC UAS

BAS

BAS

Over the hill

CSH

1 k lbs Objective- Medical Resupply- CASEVAC and Sample Extraction- Night, All Weather (Overt/Covert Lighting)- Personnel load and unload- Land/launch from unimproved road- Autonomous BLOS - Integrate with common control system - Compatible with deployed C2 frequencies- Optionally piloted?- Winching capability

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DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

“The hazard of being severely wounded is

“Are there not enough dead in France toda itho tsufficient without the

additional hazard of transportation by airplane.” (Baltimore Sun, 1912)

France today without killing the wounded in airplanes?” (French Member of Chamber of Deputies, 1917)

You can’t get the same type of care, especially care in flight, with a UAV.

Plus, they are dangerous.

COMPARISONS WITH CURRENT

Many of the UAV VTOL concepts are based on currently-approved RW aircraft, which are

currently being used for MEDEVACcurrently being used for MEDEVAC.

If the safety issues can be resolved, our assumption is that since we have been flying injured personnel on these platforms without causing further injury (we think), if UAVs are built to these levels no further harm shouldbuilt to these levels, no further harm should

befall the injured personnel from the UAV itself.

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TECHNICAL AND NON-TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

• Autonomous navigation and operations R b t d d t l

• Closed-loop, portable critical care systemsU d t• Robust command and control

• Standoff casualty assessment and triage

• Autonomous or extremely rapid tele-operations for casualty handling

• Tactile feedback for unmanned casualty handling systems so additional harm

• Unmanned systems sensors

• Medical standards for transporting casualties on unmanned systems

• Individual nation doctrine and policies

systems so additional harm isn’t inflicted

BOTTOM LINELike it or not, our group believes that these aircraft will beon the battlefield in the short-term, probably initially as Logistics vehicles Given the way that soldiers innovateLogistics vehicles. Given the way that soldiers innovate, We believe that soon after they appear on the battlefield, someone will use them for evacuation, with or without permission or doctrinal planning.

Our job is to try to develop criteria to be integrated into these aircraft and their flight profiles to make sure thatg psuch use will not cause further damage to the injured.

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QUESTIONS/ DISCUSSION?