Navy Medicine Technology Watch: Concepts of Operations

The present study objectives were to 1 develop an informational tech watch website andor service for Navy Medicine that tracks commercial-off-the-shelf COTSgovernment-off-the-shelf GOTS medical technologies, and 2 integrate the Tech Watch service with relevant Navy entities, such as the Fleet Forces Command FFC and Naval Warfare Development Command. A concepts of operations CONOPS included four components 1 gathering information based on keyword inputs to an Internet search engine, 2 filtering the information for relevance and duplication, 3 reporting results to relevant users, and 4 extending the service to include new keywords and technologies based on user feedback. A prototype Internet search tool and database were developed. Additional work would develop a Web-based interface, user database, and use of artificial intelligence methods to permit semantic search and filtering capabilities. The combat development process for Navy medical requirements is still under development at FFC therefore, integration of the NHRC Tech Watch service is pending. The utility of similar efforts, such as the Office of Naval Research Tech Solutions project, a Web-based solution for collecting and responding to nonmedical technology requests, suggests that a similar medical effort such as NHRCs Tech Watch project would add value to the development of military medical technology.