Born and Adapted to Protect the World’s Most At-Risk Patients
The technology behind Vital Intelligence was originally designed to help the world’s smallest patients: premature infants in neonatal intensive care units in the developing world. In countries without robust healthcare infrastructure or access to ample medical equipment, NICU administrators are often left to use a single heart rate sensor to monitor multiple infants.
For a normal set of patients, sharing a heart rate sensor might not be an issue. But for preterm infants fighting to stay alive, these sensors are life-or-death. Even when there are enough sensors to go around, a premature infant’s fragile skin is often damaged by the sensors.
Vital Intelligence’s core technology helped create a non-contact vitals monitoring system for NICU patients and other clinical environments so that the world’s most vulnerable patients can be monitored more easily and reliably.
Knowing this technology had more ways to help protect people around the world, Draganfly – the world’s most trusted drone hardware and software company – acquired Vital Intelligence during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team got to work and developed a product that could monitor large groups of people from afar to detect symptoms and prevent the spread of infectious diseases and later expanded the product suite that’s available today.
Professor Javaan Chahl is DST Group Joint Chair of Sensor Systems and has been with UniSA since 2012. Prior to this, he served as the Professor of Aerospace (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) at RMIT University in Melbourne. Prior to this role, he was at the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group, with whom he still works closely. Professor Chahl earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience & Robotics at the Australian National University and has published more than 150 full-length articles that have been referenced by other researchers in his fields more than 3,000 times.
Dr Ali Al-Naji Adjunct Senior Lecturer School of Engineering Ali Abdulelah Al-Naji received the bachelor of Engineering in Medical Instrumentation Techniques from the Electrical Engineering Technical College, Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq (2005), master of science in the Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq (2008) and Ph.D. degree in the Electrical & Information Engineering, University of South Australia (UniSA), Australia (2018).
Dr. Asanka Perera is a postdoctoral researcher in Signal Processing. His research interests include Adaptive Filtering, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Action Recognition, Mechatronics and Robotics. He has a masters in Industrial Automation and a bachelors in Electrical and Electronics.
Navroop Sehmi is a technology leader with 15+ years of experience that has served multiple C-level roles. He is typically involved in the process from inception to acquisition with each of the many projects he has worked on and does it by bridging the gap between visionary yet actionable initiatives. Navroop has led global teams to achieve creative technical solutions and drive revenue growth at multiple companies across the early-stage, growth and acquisition stages.
Coming from an Engineering and Computer Science background, Savin brings in 11 years experience in Technology and business. An entrepreneurial spirit who has experience in leading teams all over the world and creating custom solutions. Constantly looking at machine learning and Artificial Intelligence solutions in new products. Savin brings vast software, product, mobile and cloud experience to the team. He has built scalable high traffic products in various verticals.
Over the last 15 years, Paul has been responsible for operational strategy and execution with a scope that includes product expansion, mergers and acquisition, organizational development, and go-to-market oversight for both enterprise-level and start-up organizations.
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Professor Javaan Chahl is DST Group Joint Chair of Sensor Systems and has been with UniSA since 2012. Prior to this, he served as the Professor of Aerospace (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) at RMIT University in Melbourne. Prior to this role, he was at the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group, with whom he still works closely. Professor Chahl earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience & Robotics at the Australian National University and has published more than 150 full-length articles that have been referenced by other researchers in his fields more than 3,000 times.
His research provides ample evidence of his breadth of research expertise including avionics for UAVs, operations analysis, flight trials, space exploration, neuroscience, anatomy, manufacturing technology, and behavioral biology. High points of his career have included working with NASA Ames developing Mars exploration technology and supporting his military colleagues with real-time technical advice during operations.
His current research interests are UAVs, biological vision systems, insect behavior, and aerospace technology. His research is multidisciplinary, collaborative, and encompasses both theory and application. As a Research Degree Supervisor, Professor Chahl is highly sought after as a supervisor and mentor and is responsible for a large and diverse group of graduate students. His graduated research students have gone on to attain senior academic and government research positions in Australia and overseas. He encourages collaboration, communication, and a focus on high-quality, high-impact research.
Dr Ali Al-Naji Adjunct Senior Lecturer School of Engineering Ali Abdulelah Al-Naji received the bachelor of Engineering in Medical Instrumentation Techniques from the Electrical Engineering Technical College, Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq (2005), master of science in the Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq (2008) and Ph.D. degree in the Electrical & Information Engineering, University of South Australia (UniSA), Australia (2018).
Ali is now a vice dean for scientific and students affairs in the Electrical Engineering Technical College, Middle Technical University. Ali is also with the School of Engineering, University of South Australia (Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia) as an adjunct senior lecturer. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE (2017), Engineers Australia EA (2018) and the International Association of Engineers IAENG (2018). His research interests include biomedical instrumentation and sensors, computer vision systems, and microcontroller applications.
Dr. Asanka Perera is a postdoctoral researcher in Signal Processing. His research interests include Adaptive Filtering, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Action Recognition, Mechatronics and Robotics. He has a masters in Industrial Automation and a bachelors in Electrical and Electronics. For SP2, 2019, we delivered a brand new Mechatronics course (Autonomous Mechatronic Systems (EEET 4070) and Mechatronic System Design 2 (EEET 4075)). He is honoured to be a part of the course development and lecturing team. Mechatronics students get hands-on experience on mobile robotics, localization, path planning, obstacle avoidance, computer vision, machine learning, object detection using pre-trained models, simulation and student projects using model-based design.
Navroop Sehmi is a technology leader with 15+ years of experience that has served multiple C-level roles. He is typically involved in the process from inception to acquisition with each of the many projects he has worked on and does it by bridging the gap between visionary yet actionable initiatives.
Navroop has led global teams to achieve creative technical solutions and drive revenue growth at multiple companies across the early-stage, growth and acquisition stages.
Go-to-market strategies and people-centric solutions are where Navroop brings proven ability and real value to the table, and in addition to all his many contributions to us and leadership and has currently completed his MBA from MIT.
Coming from an Engineering and Computer Science background, Savin brings in 11 years experience in Technology and business. An entrepreneurial spirit who has experience in leading teams all over the world and creating custom solutions. Constantly looking at machine learning and Artificial intelligence solutions in new products.
Savin brings vast software, product, mobile and cloud experience to the team. He has built scalable high traffic products in various verticals.
Over the last 15 years, Paul has been responsible for operational strategy and execution with a scope that includes product expansion, mergers and acquisition, organizational development, and go-to-market oversight for both enterprise-level and start-up organizations.
Paul brings a track record of building scalable, disruptive business units rooted in core values of collaboration, operational efficiency, customer experience, and innovation. Most recently, he was a founding member in a portfolio of emerging projects supporting the implementation of direct-to-consumer telehealth and pharmacy distribution programs in the U.S. and Canada. In a recent role, Paul played a key role in developing and executing an operational strategy that included satisfying licensing and regulatory requirements, acquisition and maintenance of capital assets, and user success in a two-sided market model.
