The consortium of the Military University of Technology as the leader, the Military Institute of Medicine and TELDAT Sp. z o.o., with financial support of the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, are developing R&D project of construction of the Medical Evacuation Decision Support System Swd-EwMed to monitor health of soldiers on a battlefield. The project is to be completed this year. Combat conditions cannot be fully controlled due to warfare dynamics and hence the soldier’s health cannot be monitored properly with any popular smartwatch used by sportsmen. The command and medical units also need as much information as possible to make fast decisions on evacuating or sending medical assistance to the battlefield and to quickly transfer solder’s medical data to the hospital in the form of a patient card. Polish electronics engineers have developed a set of parameters necessary for such operations.
SWD-EwMED sensors installed in the uniform, e.g. in T-shirt or balaclava, measure soldier’s heart and breathing rates, blood pressure and oxygen saturation, temperature, occurrence of wounds or injuries and other health parameters. Field and clinical tests have confirmed that data produced by the sensors are equivalent to those available from clinical devices and can be transmitted without loss of quality. SWD-EwMED can also present soldiers’ positions on a map and transmit comprehensive information with all health parameters in a graphical and textual form to medics on duty, so they can identify the wounded persons and determine order of providing assistance in accordance with NATO standards. Soldiers in ordinary condition are marked in green, which turns yellow in case of problems and red when assistance or evacuation is needed. The evacuation team moving towards a specific soldier will be informed in real time about his location and current condition. Soldier data will be linked to the patient card displayed after selecting his icon so the doctor will have access to his electronic record like paramedics in ambulances now do.
