San Diego, CA, November 4, 2004 -- Jacobs School graduate and undergraduate students working on wireless-related senior projects and Cal-(IT)2-sponsored research will be able to test their hardware and software solutions on evaluation kits and modules donated by DPAC Technologies. The UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)²] and DPAC Technologies, the market leader in embedded 802.11 wireless networking solutions, today signed a major industry/university technology development agreement.. The agreement calls for DPAC's Airborne(TM) Wireless LAN Node Module to serve as a base-enabling technology in development of first-response emergency management products and strategies being developed by Cal-(IT)². The effort is part of an initiative to improve crisis response for homeland security sponsored under the WIISARD (Wireless Internet Information Systems for Medical Response to Disasters) program funded by the National Library of Medicine. DPAC and Cal-(IT)² will collaborate on adapting the Airborne wireless module's features and capabilities to serve as the key data communication method for a variety of products to be utilized in monitoring victims in an emergency first-response situation. It is expected this partnership will result in new wireless applications and products for a variety of applications. The partnership follows the successful development of a wireless pulse oximeter prototype using the Airborne(TM) module in a joint project of Cal-(IT)² and Dolphin Medical, much of it done by Jacobs School seniors working on an ECE191 project.  | Doug Palmer |
Douglas Palmer, Cal-(IT)² principal development researcher and WIISARD project advisor, mentored students on that project, and has worked with dozens of evaluation kits over the years. "The DPAC kit has proven to be the best-designed of all," he said. "You plug it in and it works right from the start. That's a tremendous positive for the learning experience. When students achieve early success, that breeds a lot of enthusiasm, and they ultimately go far. But this doesn't happen if students run into nothing but problems early on." The DPAC/Cal-(IT)² agreement consists of three phases: Phase I, currently underway, is focusing on development of a wireless pulse oximeter unit (for monitoring a patient's blood oxygen level), which incorporates DPAC's Airborne(TM) Wireless LAN Node Module. Phase II will center on DPAC and UCSD's collaborative efforts to develop and implement advanced wireless applications built around DPAC's next-generation wireless node module. Phase III will consist of an ongoing program in which DPAC will help support UCSD's undergraduate and graduate engineering programs by providing the university with Airborne(TM) Evaluation Kits, wireless products and development tools. "We're proud Cal-(IT)² has selected DPAC technology to continue its work, and we're confident our partnership will break new ground in wireless connectivity solutions," said Kim Early, CEO, DPAC Technologies. "In addition, this partnership will further be strengthened by our association with UCSD, which is widely acknowledged as having one of the world's finest engineering schools." |
