Unmanned CASEVAC Movement and Maneuver Controls

Rapid patient evacuation is critical to minimize injury or save the life of the warfighter. Unmanned air and ground vehicles (UAV/UGV) provide a solution to enable quick casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) leveraging multi-purpose vehicles such as cargo transport. However, unmanned systems were typically not designed for human transport and may potentially create physiological stresses that exceed that of current evacuation platforms. It is necessary to have a better understanding of the effects of flight on injuries such as head trauma, chest and lung trauma, abdominal bleeding, and long bone fracture to guide flight parameters on future UAV/UGV CASEVAC missions. CRG proposes to develop movement and maneuver constraints to safely evacuate the patient. CRG will perform an extensive literature survey and will identify the gaps in existing research and execute additional testing (within scope of budget) to address these gaps. This information will then be translated into flight control modifications based on injury. Algorithms will be developed taking into consideration injury specifics, prioritizing appropriately for operational realties such as threat evasion. CRG has assembled a multi-disciplinary team, comprised of biomedical engineers, flight physicians, statisticians, algorithm developers, and flight controls experts to provide and transition a solution to the field.