Real Time Physiological Status Monitoring

New military wearable technology will provide soldiers and small unit leaders with actionable information needed to ensure individual and squad performance readiness.

Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts

Dismounted, foot-mobile soldiers currently use a wide variety of wearable technologies, e.g., GPS (global positioning system) /PNT (position, navigation, timing), night vision goggles (NVGs), rangefinders, radios, other Nett Warrior items, etc. These wearable technologies, i.e., electronic systems carried and used by soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, constitute the individual soldier's technological ecosystem.

Real-time physiological status monitors (RT-PSM) are an important new category of modern military wearable technologies. RT-PSM wearables fill a gap by providing individual soldiers and their immediate leadership with actionable physiological status information needed to ensure individual and squad health and performance/readiness. This survey of accomplishments, requirements and research roadmaps identifies what RT-PSM is and is not, how current capabilities can be used in current programs of record, and where future research should focus.