OBAN: An open architecture prototype for a tactical body sensor network

Dismounted warfighters face a variety of environmental and physical challenges that can degrade performance and lead to serious injury. Real-time monitoring of physiological status can be a key component of reducing these risks. To these ends, a Real-Time Physiological Status Monitoring (RT-PSM) system named OBAN (Open Body Area Network) is being developed. This system utilizes an Open Systems Architecture approach which will allow for the inclusion of new sensor modalities and display form factors at low cost. A prototype has been built using both Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and custom-designed sensors to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. The current system accepts heart rate data from a commercial sensor to calculate the subject´s Physiological Strain Index (PSI), which is an indication of susceptibility to heat injury, and data from custom, boot-mounted load sensors. COTS components were adapted to create the system´s networking and computational modules. Limitations of the existing prototype are described and a path forward addressing the operational needs of warfighters is proposed.