New COVID-19 medical trial to help patients quarantining at home
Leaf Space, an Italian ground network provider, has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a novel telemedicine-via-satellite project “CARES” that monitors medical data of COVID-19 patients 24/7 while they are quarantining at home. The resulting data of the “Health Platform”, developed by Leaf Space’s project partner H&S, is useful for diagnosis, compliant with current GDPR guidelines and the basis for providing the best care for patients. The remote diagnostic also reduces the exposure of medical personnel to the risk of infections. The beta test of this tele-diagnostic platform will be conducted by medical personnel and patients in Italy starting between the end of this year and the beginning of next year.
The CARES project was selected by ESA’s Business Application programme under its Space Solution umbrella. CARES is led by Leaf Space, which is integrating the remote monitoring health platform via its satellite telecommunication infrastructure to guarantee the service is available in every corner of the planet, including areas with no terrestrial connectivity or where the signal is poor due to increased capacity demand during lockdown conditions.
The tele-diagnostic Health Platform for COVID-19 patients has been developed by Leaf Space’s project partner H&S, an Italian company that creates software and services for home healthcare and is part of e-health multinational CompuGroup Medical. The Health Platform together with mobile ‘Home Health Gate’ (HHG) devices allows the almost real-time monitoring of patients’ medical data while at home, enabling remote diagnosis directly from any equipped hospital infrastructure.
Using the HHG devices allows patients to receive the medical care and attention they need throughout the recovery period while they are quarantining at home. The devices communicate via satellites with the central database of Leaf Space’s partner H&S, which analyses the data and makes it available to doctors dedicated to the remote monitoring of patients. For this system to provide the best monitoring and care services for quarantined patients, the signals by the telemedicine systems sent to the satellite and back the hospital must be transmitted reliably, securely and quickly.
“This ambitious project demonstrates that the applications of the NewSpace economy are increasingly providing applications that have a direct benefit for private citizens,” said Jonata Puglia, co-founder and CEO of Leaf Space. “The CARES project will also contribute to the improvement of the Italian health system, placing it at the forefront of telemedicine solutions. In this case it has been adopted to combat pandemics such as that of the current coronavirus but it can also be used to treat other pathologies at home.”
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About Leaf Space
Leaf Space S.r.l. is an innovative Italian SME that provides innovative Ground Segment services for microsatellites. The company was born from an idea of a group of aerospace engineers from the Politecnico di Milano: building a “listening” network for microsatellites capable of providing innovative and efficient services to satellite operators in the collection of data on the ground. The ground segment outsourcing strategy allows satellite operators to significantly reduce development and management costs by using the Leaf Line and Leaf Key services provided by Leaf Space.
The company has been active on the market for several years, having activated communication services with various space operators both private and institutional in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. More info on Leaf Space can be found at www.leaf.space.
About H&S
H&S was founded in 1989 in Piacenza (Italy) and since January 2020 is part of the e-health multinational CompuGroup Medical. H&S creates software and services for home healthcare, monitoring and collecting patient vital parameters, with advanced, certified, Telemedicine and Smart Compliance solutions. It has national and international customers. www.hes.it
About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organization with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programs and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country.
ESA Space Solutions aims at reaching commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities addressing incubation, proving technical feasibility and business development. This includes the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems, and support in creating viable companies as well as to existing companies
