Helmet-Mounted IoT-Based Physiological Health Monitoring System for Soldiers

Soldiers are the backbone of a nation’s security and monitoring the psychological status of the soldiers enhances their performance. To combat the oppressors who operate out of fear and to protect the periphery, they employ several electronic devices. There are many wearable technologies available for monitoring the physiological signals of armed personnel but these devices need to be fitted as an additional wearable device. So, a helmet-mounted monitoring device is proposed to monitor the vital signals of armed forces engaged in various operations. The physiological parameters include oxygen saturation (SpO2) along with electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. This helmet-mounted monitoring system embedded with sensors is proposed to monitor the physiological parameters of soldiers. The signals will be extracted by multiple electrodes placed on the forehead and chest, processed using a MAX86150 breaker board and ESP32, and transmitted to a telemetry monitoring point through wireless technology. Various parameters like heart rate (HR), SpO2, systolic blood pressure (SP) and diastolic blood pressure (DP), heart rate variability (HRV) parameters namely, the standard deviation of normal-to-normal (NN) intervals (SDNN), and root mean square of successive RR interval differences (RMSSD) were monitored through the Ubidots IoT platform for further analysis and decision making. The proposed study shows the feasibility of applying a smart helmet system for unconstrained health status monitoring during the navigation of soldiers.