Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SNA)(OTCBB:SNAVF) (“Star” or the “Company”), and Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS) are pleased to announce that the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the MEDTEQ Consortium have confirmed grants to support the project on “Real-Time telemedicine for emergency medical evacuation by air transportation”.

The collaborative Research project is conducted under ETS guidance, with the active participation of MEDTEQ, Silkan Solutions Inc., Airmedic Inc., Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine and Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. The project will contribute to accelerate the integration of new technologies and care pathways, to support the creation of new markets for consortium partners, to develop knowledge and leading edge expertise in technology and the management of medical systems, to train highly qualified resources and to facilitate knowledge transfer. It will span over two years and will involve 3 master students and 2 post-doctorate fellows working with the research and industrial team constituted.

The partners of this project will work on improving Emergency Medical Services (EMS), starting with Air Ambulance transport, by providing real-time direct transmission to the ground medical dispatch center, of patients’ vital signs, along with visual assessment and geo-positioning.

The STAR-ISMS(R) on-board system and its data gathering and secured communications capabilities will be the backbone of this project. New specific features and capabilities will be designed and added for use in a critical medical environment. The project will lead to prototyping the complete chain of information, from the air to the ground, including the integration of clinical information with the Electronic Medical Record at the hospital level.

“The project will lead to improving patient assessment, to initiating better informed life-saving interventions, and to expediting patient access to treatment centers. The University will work on the key components dealing with image acquisition, compression, transmission and use in harsh environments and critical conditions,” said Principal Investigator Professor Rita Noumeir (PhD., Eng.) from ETS.

According to Professors Georges Kaddoum (PhD., Eng.) from ETS and Doctor Philippe Jouvet (PhD., M.D), real-time transmission between the aircraft or helicopter and the hospital will significantly help to improve the quality of care while providing instant access to vital signs, imaging and other critical information about the patient (aunts or children), no matter where he is in the sky. This communication link will help to save many lives by helping doctors to provide an initial diagnosis about the patient’s health so as to be prepared for arrival at the hospital and optimize the management in the emergency room and intensive care units.

“We see the application of this real time Bio- medical data transfer technology, for Air and Ground Ambulance, as well as for Military evacuation and Commercial aircraft applications, to better and more rapidly protect patients and travellers,” said Mr. Viraf Kapadia, CEO of Star Navigation.