Physiological Status Monitor

Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) reduces the ability of the body to cool. With trapped moisture inside the PPE the efficacy of cooling by sweating is reduced and with the protective layers covering the skin, body heat may not be released by convection or radiation. Utilizing heat stress biomarkers measured in real time can allow implementing measures that limit local vasoconstriction, thus increasing cooling efficiency whilst minimizing power consumption and cognitive loading. Therefore, Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Program seeks to develop a system that will monitor physiological status and heat stress of the PPE wearer in real time in order to use this data for optimizing the microclimate PPE cooling. To address this CBD need, Hedgefog Research Inc. (HFR) proposes to develop a new Physiological Status Monitor (PSM) that enables real time measurement and analysis of the most important heat stress and cooling efficiency biomarkers. By fusing this data, a physiological strain index may be calculated for individual users. In Phase I, HFR will conduct a thorough feasibility research to evaluate the validity of the proposed approach. In Phase II HFR will develop a fully functional prototype system that will be tested and evaluated with human subjects.