Personal Hydration Monitor System

One of the most difficult to detect yet widespread dangers to soldiers is dehydration, which can cause drops in efficiency, collapse, or even death. Leveraging considerable prior work for the U. S. Navy and others, International Electronic Machines (IEM), a leader in sensor system design and development, proposes the Personal Hydration Monitor (PHM) system, consisting of a micro-scale Hydration Monitoring Tag (HMT) placed in a soldier’s mouth and capable of measuring saliva osmolality, transmitting this data wirelessly to a Data Collection and Relaying Unit (DCRU) which will relay this information to a Central Monitoring System (CMS) and track the readings, providing an instant alert for the soldier. The HMT will attach to a tooth without impediment to the soldier, be immune to the challenges of the in-mouth environment, accurate, and real-time responsive to hydration changes. The DCRU will be very light and small, have a range of over a mile, automatically and securely transfer gathered data to the CMS, and automatically alert the user to dangerous hydration conditions. The system will be low-cost, rugged, and reliable. IEM will be assisted in this venture by Dr. James Castracane of Albany Nanotechnology, a world leader in the design of such micro-scale systems.