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Wearable Technology in Extreme Environments

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Engineering and Medicine in Extreme Environments

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Abstract

Humans need to work in many types of extreme environments where there is a need to stay safe and even to improve performance. Examples include: medical providers treating infectious disease, people responding to other biological or chemical hazards, firefighters, astronauts, pilots, divers, and people working outdoors in extreme hot or cold temperatures. Wearable technology is ubiquitous in the consumer market but is still needed for extreme environments. For these applications, it is particularly challenging to meet requirements to be actionable, accurate, acceptable, integratable, and affordable. To provide insight into these needs and possible solutions and the technology trade-offs involved, several examples are provided. A physiological monitoring example is described for predicting and avoiding heat injury. A cognitive monitoring example is described for estimating cognitive workload, with broader applicability to a variety of conditions, such as cognitive fatigue and depression. Finally, eye tracking is considered as a promising wearable sensing modality with applications for both physiological and cognitive monitoring. Concluding thoughts are offered on the compelling need for wearable technology in the face of pandemics, wildfires, and climate change, but also for global projects that can uplift mankind, such as long-duration spaceflight and missions to Mars.

Distribution Statement A. Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8702-15-D-0001. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA, USA

    Brian A. Telfer, Thomas F. Quatieri, Hrishikesh M. Rao & Jeffrey S. Palmer

Authors
  1. Brian A. Telfer
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  2. Thomas F. Quatieri
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  3. Hrishikesh M. Rao
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  4. Jeffrey S. Palmer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian A. Telfer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Research Centre in AI for Health and Wellness, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Tobias Cibis

  2. Joint Research Centre in AI for Health and Wellness, Faculty of Business and IT, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, ON, Canada

    Carolyn McGregor AM

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Telfer, B.A., Quatieri, T.F., Rao, H.M., Palmer, J.S. (2022). Wearable Technology in Extreme Environments. In: Cibis, T., McGregor AM, C. (eds) Engineering and Medicine in Extreme Environments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96921-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96921-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96920-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96921-9

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