Wrist Sensor for Warfighter Status Monitor

A small, personnel, battlefield, fiber optic sensor for detection of heartbeat and respiration rates will be developed. This biosensor offers high sensitivity, simplicity of design, and low costs. The contractor will show the feasibility of a personnel biosensor which has the potential to signal fatigue, dehydration, stress, illness, injury, or sleep disorders which are detectable through low frequency monitoring of the heartbeat and respiration rate. Fiber optic coupler sensors will be used which are based on the remarkable sensitivity of fused single mode fiber couplers to very small bending moments. These fiber optic sensor, when simply coupled to the body, act as a low frequency accelerometers there by detecting body motions caused by muscled movement. The coupler sensors are embedded into a disk consisting of silicone rubber. There are no electrically conducting parts in contact with the individual. This sensor is proposed as a new portable physiologic monitoring device. Additionally, a small radio-transmitter will be integrated into the sensor providing wireless data transfer to a signal processor and analyzer. The proposed sensors are inexpensive and safe requiring minimal battery power for personal, field or remote use. Other applications include SID's monitors, general patient monitors, and emergency medical monitors. Anticipated Benefits: The successful development of the proposed fiber optic sensor will provide a low cost sensor system to monitor the heartbeat, pulse, and breathing rate of awake or sleeping personnel. The sensor is completely safe even under water and may easily be remotely interfaced to a microprocessors for data logging, sophisticated real time analysis, automatic data transfers over the phone lines, and automatic alarm.