Second Generation, Fully Networked Smart Medical Vests

Today's state-of-the-art Medical-Vests/Shirts are inflexible and expensive. Typically, data collection component functions as a multi-channel cardiopulmonary digital-recorder with physiologic-sensors-array sewn to the shirt to monitor vital signs. Peripheral diagnostic devices such as pulse-oximeter, blood-pressure, temperature, weight may be plugged via wire into serial-port of shirt-bus. Measurements then become part of digital data-stream. Inflexibility/integral-unity disallows specialization of the shirt for particular missions; e.g. on entering chemical-plants with life-threatening-gases, the vest should be equipped with new devices: CO-detectors, video-cameras, GPS. These sensors cannot simply be wired to the vest. Some sensors must be mounted on helmet, or around wrist requiring wireless Body-LAN. Another limitation is lack of peer-to-peer communications between service-men, which enormously expands communication capability. Phase-I effort demonstrates feasibility of a second-generation Medical-Emergency-Vest that is low-cost, flexible, reconfigurable, smart, based on extension/enhancement of LEAP low-energy modular embedded-sensor-architecture developed at UCLA. A router enables Peer-to-Peer communications with other teammates for emergency assistance, or for reach-back from areas without Internet or cellular-network. Low-energy consumption strategy can be designed for specific missions. Security implementation prevents penetrating vest through Body-LAN, P2P network and Internet. The proposed second-generation vest will far exceed functionalities of current state-of-the-art with flexibility/reconfigurable, P2P communications, security, embedded intelligent software and low-cost.