U.S. Army will equip soldiers with blast sensors to study brain injuries

The U.S. Army is partnering with the Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a fully functional sensor suite that could save the lives of soldiers in battle. It’s called the Soldier Body Unit, a two-pound pack outfitted with four blast sensors that will communicate with each other to capture and measure blasts on a soldier’s body. The U.S. Army is rushing the development of the prototype due to its plan to send the first units of the suite to the soldiers in Afghanistan in order to collect data on concussions and traumatic brain injuries before the soldiers leave in 2014.

The data will then be sent to the Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury in Combat (JTAPIC) Program, where medical professionals will study and analyze them. The researchers said that the Soldier Body Unit will not only collect data for future research, but will also save soldiers from themselves. “Too many fellow soldiers pretend they didn’t sustain concussions in the fight, only to sustain more serious brain injuries in the future. With these, they can’t hide,” Army Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Marion said.

Gene Ryan Briones
Categories: Military