SPARNET ~ Spartan Sensor Network to Improve Medical And Situational Awareness Of Foot Soldiers During Field Training

Reed W. Hoyt, Ph.D.
Biophysics and Biomedical Modeling Division, U.S. Army Research
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760-5007

During US Army Ranger training, Soldiers engage in mentally- and
physically-demanding 3-to-10 day field exercises where food and sleep
restriction and extreme environmental conditions are common. A mobile
sensor network is needed to improve medical- and situational-awareness
during this training. The SPARNET testbed project seeks to meet this
need through the spiral development of wireless squad- and personal-area
networks that knit physiological-sensors, predictive models and
algorithms, and user interfaces into applications useful to both
researchers and Ranger instructors. Ranger instructors will use
geo-location (GPS) and physiological-sensor information, transmitted
using a minimalist, soldier-worn, mesh-networked, software-defined-radio
system, to: (a) oversee their students ("who, where, when, status"), (b)
ensure adequate water is delivered and consumed, (c) reduce the
likelihood of environmentally-related injuries such as heat stroke, and
(d) improve casualty care in the event of injury. The various substrate
resources that form the isolated, resource-constrained SPARNET mobile
sensor network will be described, along with some of the pressing
network science questions that need to be addressed.