SLeep Assessment Monitor (SLAM)

According to a recent RAND report, of the 1.64 million deployed to date, the study estimates that approximately 300,000 veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan are currently suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or major depression, and about 320,000 may have experienced mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) during deployment. The identification of affected or at-risk soldiers is critical to early intervention and successful treatment. For sufferers of PTSD, sleep disturbances are among the most treatment-resistant symptoms and can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, even suicide. To address this problem, PERL Research proposed a non-contact approach is based on using a thermographic camera coupled with machine vision processing algorithms – SLeep Assessment Monitor (SLAM). The machine vision algorithm will process the thermographic video to segment body, detect/track body and limb movements; detects features (eye movement, breathing, heart rate, skin temperature).