{"626665":{"#nid":"626665","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Grad Student Finalist in National Collegiate Inventors Competition","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA project that grew out of personal experience with one of the trickiest parts of military medical airlifts is now among the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.invent.org\/collegiate-inventors\u0022\u003E10 finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CIC) organized by the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing alumnus and current computer science master\u0026rsquo;s student \u003Cstrong\u003EMahdi Al-Husseini\u003C\/strong\u003E has developed a tool that improves safety during helicopter rescue operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWorking with his first-year Tech roommates \u003Cstrong\u003EJoshua Barnett\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EAnthony Chen\u003C\/strong\u003E, Al-Husseini has produced a prototype stabilization system for helicopter hoist operations \u0026mdash; the rescue or medical evacuation procedures that usually happen under the worst of circumstances.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Patients often must be evacuated over water, above sloping terrain, and in hostile territory,\u0026rdquo; said Al-Husseini, now a U.S. Army officer and helicopter pilot who flies medical evacuation missions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Helicopter hoist operations are some of the most dangerous work Army aviation crews perform.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUsually, aircrews must lower a stretcher-like basket called a litter to carry a patient. Then the patient is lifted through the air to the helicopter cabin. But it\u0026rsquo;s no simple task.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The rotor blades of a hovering helicopter force a turbulent downwind deflection of air known as downwash. Downwash, in conjunction with low-wind conditions and poor helicopter control, can cause a hoisted load to rotate quickly \u0026mdash; up to several full revolutions per second.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In addition to psychological trauma and disorientation, uncontrolled spin like that can result in physical injury or even death,\u0026rdquo; Al-Husseini said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u0026rsquo;s solution is the Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System, or SALUS (pronounced SAL-us, and derived from the Latin word for safety). It\u0026rsquo;s a reaction-wheel stabilizer that stops the litter from spinning out of control. The team is close to signing a research and development agreement with the military for a battery of tests, including testing on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team has been working from opposite sides of the continent since they all finished their bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degrees at Georgia Tech in 2018. Barnett and Chen are pursuing doctorates at Stanford University while Al-Husseini, who also earned bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degrees in biomedical engineering and public policy, works full-time in the Army and is finishing his master\u0026rsquo;s degree in Atlanta. Despite the physical distance, they have\u0026nbsp;developed a proof of concept and five ever-more-advanced prototypes in a year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We developed SALUS to allow hoist operators to focus their efforts on the already risky process of extracting a patient,\u0026rdquo; Al-Husseini said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Soldiers complete their missions with valor knowing that, should they be wounded, medical evacuation crews will expedite their treatment and facilitate their return home. SALUS seeks to support those efforts as seamlessly as possible.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe SALUS team is presenting its proof of concept to a panel of NIHF inductees and officials from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The event is set for October 30 at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlong with SALUS, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2019\/09\/19\/suturing-device-helicopter-hoist-stabilizer-make-it-finals-national-collegiate-inventors\u0022\u003Eone other Georgia Tech invention, SecURO, is among the 10 CIC finalists this year\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch6\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStory edited from an original published to the Georgia Tech News Center\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Developed at Georgia Tech, a prototype that improves safety during helicopter rescues is vying for top prize in inventors contest."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2019-09-24 16:00:40","changed_gmt":"2019-09-24 16:00:40","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"626464":{"id":"626464","type":"image","title":"SALUS - Mahdi Al-Husseini, Anthony Chen, Joshua Barnett","body":null,"created":"1568924986","gmt_created":"2019-09-19 20:29:46","changed":"1568924986","gmt_changed":"2019-09-19 20:29:46","alt":"Computer science master\u0027s student Mahdi Al-Husseini, left, with the Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System he created with Stanford Ph.D. students Anthony Chen, center, and Joshua Barnett.","file":{"fid":"238510","name":"SALUS-Mahdi-Al-Husseini-Anthony-Chen-Joshua-Barnett-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/SALUS-Mahdi-Al-Husseini-Anthony-Chen-Joshua-Barnett-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/SALUS-Mahdi-Al-Husseini-Anthony-Chen-Joshua-Barnett-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":188559,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/SALUS-Mahdi-Al-Husseini-Anthony-Chen-Joshua-Barnett-h.jpg?itok=PP_zET5x"}}},"media_ids":["626464"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAlbert Snedeker, Communications Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:albert.snedeker@cc.gatech.edu?subject=Grad%20Student%20Inventors%20Competition%20Finalist\u0022\u003Ealbert.snedeker@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["albert.snedeker@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}