5G and AI to Make Mobile Hospitals a Reality

[Financial News] Innogrid is developing technology to bring together, in a single system, the clinical software and computing infrastructure for mobile hospitals deployed at disaster sites and in medically underserved areas. The goal is to connect medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) clinical support software, hospital information systems and other resources using fifth-generation (5G) edge computing, so that medical services can be delivered according to conditions on the ground.  

Innogrid said on the 22nd that it is developing software to jointly operate and manage medical services and infrastructure for mobile hospitals as part of the “5G-Based Mobile Flexible Medical Platform” project, which has completed a multi-ministry integrated demonstration and entered the validation stage for on-site deployment.
The project aims to deploy mobile hospitals in places where sudden medical needs arise, such as disaster and infectious-disease sites and medically underserved areas, and provide medical services at the level of a secondary hospital. Since 2022, multiple ministries have been developing mobile hospital modules, onboard medical devices and a flexible medical software platform, among other components, over a five-year period.
The subproject Innogrid is involved in is “Development of Flexible Medical 5G Edge Computing Software to Support Tailored Medical Services in Mobile Hospitals.” The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is leading the project, with Innogrid, the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), DKI Technology, the Honam University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and the Korea Cloud Computing Research Association participating as joint research institutions.
To support rapid care at a mobile hospital, medical devices and AI software for clinical care must be connected to clinical support systems, electronic medical records (EMRs) and cloud-based hospital information systems (HIS). Innogrid is developing a framework for integrated operation of service systems, lifecycle management for mobile hospital software, and technology for the integrated operation of medical infrastructure and services.
The technology focuses on managing everything in one system, from the deployment and operation of medical software to on-site computing infrastructure and medical services. Because communication conditions and available resources can vary by deployment location, it is important to configure infrastructure and services to suit conditions on the ground and operate them reliably.
On the 8th, participating institutions in the project conducted a multi-ministry integrated demonstration in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province, based on a 30-person complex-disaster scenario. They connected mobile hospital modules, an AI ambulance and a medical software platform in line with a disaster-response scenario, and an external expert evaluation panel assessed their suitability for on-site deployment and operational readiness.
In the software category, the evaluation covered data integration between systems, processing speed and whether clinical information could be shared through the cloud. The review also included on-site network operations, including 5G, and contingency measures for system failures.
Innogrid has applied edge computing in various industries, including urban transportation and smart construction, in addition to its flexible medical software platform. It is also leading a cloud technology development project that connects micro data centers distributed across sites such as factories and hospitals so they can be operated as a single system.
Innogrid sees this as one pillar of its “From xPU to AI Platform” technology vision. The company plans to build a foundation for integrated management spanning xPU infrastructure and AI development, training, deployment and operations environments, expanding the reach of AI infrastructure operations beyond data centers to sites where data is generated, including healthcare, manufacturing and smart cities.
Innogrid CEO Kim Myeong-jin said, “As the use of AI expands beyond data centers and the cloud into industrial sites, the ability to connect infrastructure with AI and service software in a single system and operate it reliably is becoming increasingly important.” He added, “We will advance 5G edge computing and technologies for the integrated operation of infrastructure and services, and expand AI infrastructure operations to a range of industrial sites.”
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter