Description:
TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Bio Medical
OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate a functional compression shirt with embedded electronics capable of physiological monitoring. The prototype e-garment should be both comfortable for the user as well as capable of collecting, storing and wirelessly transmitting acquired data with minimal distortion. This system will provide physiological health and performance state information allowing for improved safety and sustained work capacity. The focus of this topic is primarily on the integration necessary to exploit extant and emerging state of the art ultra-low power electronics and other government furnished technologies to produce a functional physiological monitoring system.
DESCRIPTION: Health maintenance and performance monitoring are just two of the many benefits of continuous ambulatory monitoring. Uninterrupted monitoring can record performance and/or alter a pending event, e.g. overheating. Traditional ambulatory monitoring systems collect data for offline processing, not meeting needs for real-time observation. Currently, wrist worn systems are comfortable to wear and highly acceptable to users, however they lack data accuracy. Alternatively, chest worn systems can provide accurate data but compromise comfort. When the data being collected involve the use of multiple sensors, the system can become very bulky, causing discomfort to the user and potentially influencing the data being collected. When transmitting the signal wirelessly, interference may also create security concerns when the communication channel is communal to multiple sources. System integration may be a challenge when multiple sensor types are being used; and the power required for the system as a whole must be minimized. With recent breakthroughs in areas including smart fabrics, flex circuitry, ultra-low power microcontrollers, wireless capabilities, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, it brings forward the possibility for a new generation of sensors that could function in a continuous yet concealed fashion. Over the last decade, significant exploration in the area of sensors embedded within garments has been made in an attempt to circumvent these issues. Broad interest exists in the development of a compression shirt as an integrated monitoring platform that may be used by service men/women. This integrated e-garment will enable the collection and storage of continuous physiological data and provide real-time off-body secure wireless transmission and on-device storage. The ability to monitor service members both during their routine tasks and in combat settings will allow for early intervention and precautionary observance as well as for situational awareness and mission planning purposes.
PHASE I: In Phase I, the contractor should deliver a detailed plan that outlines the scientific, technical, and commercial feasibility of producing a functional e-wearable compression garment as well as providing an outline of success criteria to reach this goal. Phase I should demonstrate non-integrated functional elements of the desired system, e.g. compression garment with conductive electrodes, options for embedded electronics and communications elements, envisioned data collection and transfer routines, user interfaces, strategies for system initiation and setup that require minimal user interaction, and a plan for final system integration. The approach must be based on an architecture open to third party developers; and utilize and extend as needed previous Government work with the Open Body Area Network, OBAN. The report should illustrate the feasibility of all desired system attributes. A variety of technical concerns should be considered as detailed in the Phase II section below. Numerous technical approaches may be proposed with accompanying pros and cons for each solution.
PHASE II: During Phase II, the contractor will use the results from Phase I to fabricate and validate a prototype garment with embedded sensors. Apparel characteristics: must be lightweight, comfortable, cool (minimal insulation), highly permeable to water vapor/sweat. It is desired that this environmental 3D, seamless garment tolerate numerous washes in a standard washing machine on a gentle cycle without compromising operational capability. Sensors to collect heart rate, skin temperature, respiration and accelerometry must be incorporated. The integrated sensors should be anchored sufficiently such that motion artifact related disturbance is negligible (i.e. disturbance of the integrated system is less than that of the sensors alone, prior to integration). Proposed electronics must function on ultra-low power (approximate overall total average system power requirements including communications of 1mW (threshold), reducing or eliminating the need to change or recharge batteries. Electronics must accommodate government-furnished algorithms that estimate core temperature from heart rate, and other third party algorithms that recognize apparent sleep; identify upright and supine postures, unstructured activity, and basic walk/run activities. Garment must have ruggedized electronics packaging and full integration between apparel and sensors. The study should also detail the wireless architecture to be included for this smart apparel. The ideal system would incorporate a Texas Instruments tunable narrow-band (TNB) chip (government furnished firmware), and BLE (Bluetooth low energy) connecting though the appropriate antennas to a BLE-capable, and TNB dongled Android handheld device. The tunable transceiver should operate on military frequencies under 400 MHz. On-device storage should also be feasible, with the ability to store data collected continuously over the span of days. The resulting prototype should be a well-defined deliverable, meeting the requirements detailed in this paragraph and which can be made commercially viable. Subcontractor support may be leveraged to develop the desired garment. Contractor should provide a specifications sheet and benchmark test results with prototype. Phase II will also include testing and validation of function and comfort by the Government using human subjects, flat plate and mannequin systems of textiles and garments to ensure that goals are met. Innovative techniques should be used to accommodate various body morphologies and body types for both male and female users. A strategy for semi-custom fitting and individualization should also be included. In addition, a future plan for fire retardant textiles to be incorporated into the design should also be explored. The final architecture should allow the ability to connect multiple garment based systems to a single Android device.
PHASE III: Phase III will explore in detail the commercialization strategy for the Electronic Embedded Wearable Compression Garment. A commercialization plan should be described including sourcing of materials and resources, affordability of the end product, manufacturability, intellectual property and other considerations. An evaluation of possibilities for transition of a viable product both within the government as well as in private sector markets will be further explored. The desired end product would be a user validated garment with the ability to collect and store physiological data of interest. Potential commercial applications include those in athlete performance, and physical strain recovery, operation in hazardous environments and other situations that would require personnel to be monitored over an extended period of time (e.g., over the span of days or weeks). This technology is relevant to the mission needs of a variety of military entities including the National Guard Bureau, US Marines, Special Forced Command, PEO Solider and other organizations. Successful Phase III partnership with these groups would include detailed conversations with their management and adaptation of the system to meet specific organizational needs and mission requirements for successful transition.
REFERENCES:
1: Friedl, K.E., Buller, M.J., Tharion, W.J., Potter, A.W., Manglapus, G.L., and Hoyt, R.W. (2016). Real time physiological status monitoring (RT-PSM): accomplishments, requirements, and research roadmap. (Technical Note TN-16-2). Natick, MA: United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
2: Tharion, W.J., Buller, M.J., Potter, A.W., Karis, A.J., Goetz, V., & Hoyt, R.W. (2013). Acceptability and usability of an ambulatory health monitoring system for use by military personnel. IIE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomic and Human Factors, 1(4), 204-214. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263312379_Acceptability_and_Usability_of_an_Ambulatory_Health_Monitoring_System_for_Use_by_Military_Personnel]
3: Patel, S., Park, H., Bonato, P., Chan, L., & Rodgers, M. (2012). A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 9(21), 1-17. [https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-0003-9-21]
KEYWORDS: Physiological Status Monitoring, Compression Shirt, Embedded Monitoring, Wearable Sensors, Heart Rate, Core Temperature, Skin Temperature, Accelerometry
