Wearable Health Monitoring Systems

The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a wearable health monitoring system for the human body that is functional, comfortable, bendable in 3 dimensions, durable, water-proof, washable, and light-weight. This new technology area of wearable health systems, sometimes referred to as smart-clothing, promises to allow for a secondary human nervous system that connects various different electronic devices positioned on or around the human body. As the shrinking in size and weight of electronic circuits has progressed, it is now possible for the modern human astronaut to carry increasing numbers of different electronic devices and sensors such as thermometers, gas monitors, microphones, altimeters, digital processors, digital memory, and push-button controls. These devices allow the astronaut to access data about their current environment and health status, and communicate with other astronauts and/or databases to send and receive information of value. As the variation in the number of devices and sensors that can be deployed increases greatly, a new technology is required to allow the seamless integration of these devices with the human astronaut so that the devices can be electrically powered, operated, re-charged, and communicate with each other over a digital pathway.