Pentagon ocials recently revealed information on the sensor program in a brieng on the traumatic brain injuries US service members suered after an Iranian missile attack in January. The system involves three blast sensors, one for the head, the chest, and a shoulder, that provide blast overpressure data, which could be used to determine if an aected service member might be in need of medical evaluation. The program is still a trial program with more testing planned for the next year and a half to two years.

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The US military is putting sensors on body armor
that can detect and measure exposure to potentially
harmful blasts
Ryan Pickrell Mar 5, 2020, 3:31 AM
Marines with 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, fire an M777 Howitzer at known targets during training August 9, 2018, at
Mount Bundey Training Area, Australia. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Wetzel
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2. The US military is putting sensors on body armor to detect whether
troops have been exposed to potentially harmful blasts.
In the wake of an Iranian missile attack on US forces in Iraq in early
January, 110 US troops were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain
injuries. Initial reports indicated there were no injuries, due in large
part to the di culty of detecting and diagnosing TBIs Defense
The US military is putting blast gauges on body armor to detect
whether or not a US service member has been exposed to a
potentially harmful blast.
Pentagon o cials recently revealed information on the sensor
program in a brie ng on the traumatic brain injuries US service
members su ered after an Iranian missile attack in January.
The system involves three blast sensors, one for the head, the
chest, and a shoulder, that provide blast overpressure data, which
could be used to determine if an a ected service member might be
in need of medical evaluation.
The program is still a trial program with more testing planned for
the next year and a half to two years.
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3. part to the di culty of detecting and diagnosing TBIs, Defense
Department o cials have explained.
The body armor blast sensors, still a part of a US military trial
program, could make it easier to tell if a service member needs
medical evaluation by measuring blast overpressure exposure.
BlackBox Biometrics blast gauge Courtesy of BlackBox
"It's three sensors ... that will detect whether you were exposed to a
blast event," Joseph Ludovici, the principal director for military
community and family policy, told reporters at the Pentagon recently.
He explained that even if a war ghter does not have any immediate
symptoms, "if your tracker shows that you were exposed to a blast
event, then we're going ahead and evaluating those folks to see
whether they have traumatic brain injury."
A total of 58 military units consisting of 12 to 360 individuals have
been equipped with a total of 4,408 sets of B3G7 sensors (BlackBox
Biometrics 7th generation blast gauges). These sensors are being
tested as part of the Combat in training Queryable exposure/Event
Repository (CONQUER) program.
Each service member gets three gauges, one for the helmet, one for
the chest, and one for the shoulder.
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4. BlackBox Biometrics blast gauges Courtesy of BlackBox
"What these blast gauges read is the blast overpressure wave, which is
measured in pounds per square inch or PSI," Kathy Lee, the special
assistant for TBI matters for the assistant secretary of defense for
health a airs, told reporters Wednesday.
"So, we're getting PSI values from three di erent places on wearable
sensors that the service member has."
Each of the blast gauges have green, yellow, and red lights. In a blast
scenario, one to four PSI is green, four to sixteen is yellow, and greater
than sixteen is red.
Green is better than red, but it doesn't mean someone is good to go.
The blast sensors give war ghters, as well as medical personnel, data
to better understand what they were exposed to. To diagnose a TBI,
medical professionals use the MACE II tool, which is a
comprehensive evaluation tool.
As part of the ongoing testing of the blast sensors, military
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5. researchers are also looking at how the various sensor readouts match
up with certain neurological and cognitive impacts associated with
TBIs to get a better grasp of what the readings mean from a health
and performance standpoint.
Previous analysis of traumatic blast events focused on static
measurements in open elds, but the new system looks at dynamic
measurements for individual service members, Lee said.
The blast sensors are currently being tested in training environments
to evaluate the impact of certain weapons and munitions, but within
the next 18 to 24 months, the sensors will be tested down range in
operational environments. At the end of the testing,
recommendations will be submitted to the department on how to
proceed.
NOW WATCH:
More: U.S. Military Blast Traumatic Brain Injury Sensors
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