The Air Force Research Laboratory, in collaboration with the Nano Bio-Materials Consortium and Case Western Reserve University, has developed wearable sensor technology designed to track warfighters’ health status.
Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday research efforts from the Biomolecular Structure and Integration for Sensors program resulted in the founding of private company Sensate Biosystems, which will develop the technology for applications in the commercial market.
Lawrence Drummy, a senior materials engineer in the materials and manufacturing directorate and BioSIS technical lead, said that the technology will work to ensure warfighters’ safety during critical missions by sensing when they become stressed, excessively fatigued or hyper-stimulated.
“These wearable sensors can take on a variety of forms such as mouthguards, patches applied to the skin or microneedle patches that just penetrate the epidermis into the interstitial fluid, for example,” Drummy explained.
He added that the technology offers advanced human monitoring capabilities that can enable commanders to make more informed decisions.
The BioSIS program included AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, the 711th Human Performance Wing, the NBMC and Case Western Reserve University.
