1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to health monitoring systems, and in particular to health monitoring systems for personnel on a boat, where the boat is capable of operating at high speeds and can be deployed in warfare special operations.
2. Prior Art
Advancements in high speed craft (HSC) construction and powering technology have led to ever-increasing craft speed and increasing numbers of reported impact injuries. The military HSC impact injury problem is particularly insidious since, unlike their civilian high speed pleasure craft and offshore racing counterparts, military crewmen must operate their craft at high speed in rough seas to fulfill their mission and, at times, to survive. Further, as military craft, the crewmen generally agree that they must “train as they fight.” A critical objective within a human-centered approach to HSC acquisition is to reduce the incidence of impact injury.
Ron Peterson et al. in an article entitled “Evaluation of Criteria for Assessing Risk of Impact Injury in High Speed Craft” published Feb. 3, 2006, reports that Gollwitzer and Peterson [Gollwitzer, R. M., and Peterson, R. S., (1994) Shock Mitigation on Naval Special Warfare High Speed Planing Boats Technology Assessment, Report CSS/TR-94/33, Dahlgren Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Fla.] described the effects of repeated shock impacts on occupants during high speed operations in Naval Special Warfare boats. Ensign et al. [Ensign, W., Hodgdon, J., Prusaczyk, K., Ahlers, S., Shapiro, D., and Lipton, M., (2000) A Survey of Self-Reported Injuries Among Special Boat Operators, Report TR 00-48, Naval Health Research Center] found compelling evidence of a significant injury problem in a study of self-reported injuries of high speed boat operators. It was found that 65% of operators responding to the survey sustained boat-related injury, with 89% of these within the first two years of operation. This injury problem is both acute and chronic, reducing both the short-term and the long-term effectiveness of personnel who are exposed to repeated shock impacts.
Sea trials performed in January 2003, October 2003, and January 2005 provide data upon which the relative performance of discomfort methods (RMS, ISO 2631 Part 1 (1985), and ISO 2631 Part 1 (1997) VDV) and injury assessment methods (ISO 2631 P5) may be evaluated. In these sea trials, boat deck, seats, human volunteers and Hybrid III anthropomorphic test dummies were instrumented with tri-axial accelerometers and tri-axial angular rate sensors. The Hybrid III dummies also contained lumbar and cervical spine load cells. The RMS, ISO 2631 Part 1, and ISO 2631 Part 5 were all evaluated at the seat pad of the occupant. However, discomfort and injury relevant to this work is related to accelerations and the corresponding forces of the lumbar spine. Often discomfort is a sign of the initiation of an injury; however this is not always the case. In this study it was found that the RMS of the seat pad accelerations does not account for human spine dynamics, nor does it accurately account for severe discrete events that are common with high speed planing boats, like a Mark V Special Operations Craft (MK V SOC) and Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boat (NSW RIB). These high speed craft are capable of speeds of 45 knots and higher. Also, while MK V SOC can have suspended seats, NSW RIBs do not, and the personnel substantially spend most of their time standing.
The ISO 2631 Part 5 is the only existing criterion to include transfer functions for predicting tri-axial lumbar spine accelerations from measured seat pad accelerations. Within the ISO 2631 Part 5 standard, lumbar forces are estimated from the predicted lumbar accelerations. These forces are correlated to a likelihood of injury based upon the ultimate strength of the lumbar spine, the variance of this strength, and probability analysis. Lumbar spine accelerations (which are often approximated by exterior back accelerations corresponding to the L4 lumbar spine) and the measured lumbar spinal forces in the Hybrid III dummies can be compared to predicted values from the ISO 2631 Part 5 as a way to validate the standard.
The ISO 2631 Part 5 is stated as the best injury criterion available to assess impact spine injury on high speed craft. However, injury reference values in the ISO 2631 Part 5 may be too low, especially for military operators. An analysis of predicted and measured lumbar forces, coupled with anecdotal information concerning ride quality from experienced crewmen will help lead to the identification of appropriate injury thresholds for occupants of high speed craft.
The invention is a health monitoring system for personnel of a high speed boat, which among several aspects the system measures and monitors the spine stress dose value and the shock. The speeding boat can produce impact injury from whole-body vibration embedded with multiple shocks. The system includes a GPS; a RFID tag on an individual, where the RFID tag refers to active and passive RFIDs; a display; a RFID reader; a multi-axis sensor unit that is an accelerometer which enables the determination of impact, vibration and shock; and a central data acquisition apparatus.
The apparatus includes processors in communication with the GPS, the sensor unit, and the RFID reader. The apparatus samples the RFID reader frequently, associating the impact, vibration and shock with the individuals via their RFID tags, and determines that they are either onboard or overboard. An aspect of the invention is an application that records a GPS location and time that contact was lost if one or more of the individuals goes overboard. The application also generates a course back to the GPS location(s) where the one or more individuals went overboard. Another aspect of the invention is that the system graphically displays a quality of ride in terms of injury potential based on the dynamic exposure data at a particular speed and heading.
The foregoing invention will become readily apparent by referring to the following detailed description and the appended drawings in which:
The invention is a health monitoring system for personnel. The system generally includes elements that enable a correlation of impact injury from the cumulative effect of whole-body vibration embedded with multiple shocks with the degree of injury.
Referring to
The processors 32,36 are housed in a protective box 42 that can be mounted on a boat, where the boat is suitable for special naval operations requiring a high speed craft which, during a special operation or training for the special operation, can produce impact injury and exposure to equipment as well as personnel. The protective box 42 is waterproof, impervious to marine elements, and has a resilience to impact that is comparable or better than the resilience of the boat. The disclosed invention has been found to withstand shock of twenty nine times the force of gravity. The ability to withstand shock decreases if moving mechanical elements such as fans and disk drives are used. The protective box is typically composed, at least in part, of a material having good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum and alloys thereof. The box includes a cover (where a cover includes a door, or any closing member) permitting quick access to an interior of the box and to the removable data storage unit. The cover is not shown or numbered. In an alternate embodiment the removable data storage unit 34 is mounted on an exterior of the box.
The central data acquisition apparatus 30 has a passive cooling system for cooling the electronics housed within the protective box. The first processor 32 and the second processor 36 are mounted on a first motherboard 38 and a second motherboard 39, respectively. The motherboards 38,39 are mounted on a base 44, which serves as a heat sink, and in one embodiment the base 44 is a portion of the protective box 42. In another embodiment the base 44 is a component in contact with the box. In both cases, heat is dissipated by the protective box 42.
The central data acquisition apparatus 30 has a plurality of waterproof communication ports 48 comprising electrical connections through the box 42 to an external power supply 18, the display 50, the RFID reader 14, the GPS 16, and the multi-axis sensor unit 20. The multi-axis sensor unit 20 is typically comprised of a three-axis sensor 22 which produces an analog signal. The analog signal is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter 24, and then serialized by the serial I/O 26, which is passed along to the first processor 32.
The central data acquisition apparatus 30 has a first application that correlates the individual with the dynamic exposure data as measured by the multi-axis sensor unit, and saves the dynamic exposure data on the removable data storage unit 34. A second application records a GPS location and time if one or more of the crew goes overboard, and generates a course back to the location where the one or more individuals went overboard. A third application graphically illustrates on the display a ride roughness in terms of injury potential based on the dynamic exposure data at a particular speed and heading. A fourth application displays an error/status code into a user friendly text message.
The removable data storage unit 34 has at least one USB flash drive 35, where the USB flash drive 35 is generic for a jump stick, a USB memory key, a Cruzer™, a TravelDrive™, a ThumbDrive™, a Disgo™ and the like. The USB flash drive 35 in the preferred embodiment is waterproof. For confidentiality, it is preferred that the dynamic exposure data on the USB flash drive is encrypted.
The transponder of the RFID tag 12 sends out a radio frequency signal, which is detected by the RFID reader. In most cases the signal is transmitted in rapid pulses or continuously so that there is a substantially continuous stream of information. For tactical reasons, if the boat is operating in radio silence, the transponder can be turned off, and then turned back on at the appropriate time. The system may include a transponder control capability that allows the transponder to be turned on and off.
The system typically also includes a web based medical server, where the dynamic exposure data is periodically uploaded therein maintaining an ongoing cumulative dynamic exposure dose level for the individual associated with the RFID. One method of uploading the data is to periodically copy it directly from an unplugged USB flash drive 35 to the web based medical server (not shown or numbered). The cumulative dynamic exposure dose level for the individual can then be analyzed by multiple medical personnel using injury assessment software to monitor the individual's cumulative dose levels and provide medical feedback to operators and their commands. The information can be efficiently disseminated using a private network, or a universal network like the Internet.
Examining zone one 54, there are three regions of ride quality. Safe ride quality 56 is indicated by three chevrons and a rectangle labeled “Max Safe”. The elapsed safe ride time 58 is given as 32 minutes and 34 seconds in the illustrated example. Above the rectangle labeled “Max Safe” are two inverted chevrons 60 that indicate that the ride is rougher, caution is to be considered, but not yet causing injury. Above them is an octagon 62 labeled “Injury”, indicating that at times the ride quality was poor enough to potentially cause injury. Also shown is the length of time 64 of injurious dynamic exposure. The time 64 of whole-body vibration embedded with multiple shocks with the degree of injury is shown as 5 minutes and 27 seconds in the illustrated example. The injury time is cumulative. The display does not provide the level of detail of data that is stored on the USB flash drives 35, but it gives the helmsman a good indication of the quality of ride, and the officer in charge can make an informed decision as to how fast to push the high speed craft.
Zone two 66 has a dimly lit triangle 78 that indicates that no one is overboard. Buttons 88,90 control the screen intensity, so that it can be viewed with night vision goggles, or brighter or lower. Button 82 activates “Next”, Button 84 activates “Nearest”, and Button 86 activates “Delete”. Since no one is overboard these buttons would not need to be activated.
1. Inexpensive RFID transponders (tags) worn by crew members or other individuals.
2. The central data acquisition apparatus (on each HSC) tracks each RFID tag.
3. System's central data acquisition apparatus also measures HSC dynamic exposure, displays this information as a risk to injury, and correlates with each person onboard.
4. Individual exposure data is periodically uploaded (via jumpstick and the like) to a web based medical server.
5. Individual exposure data is combined with previous exposure data (may be from other boats) to determine a “cumulative dose” using a derivative of ISO 2631 P5 (Cumulative-R Algorithm) and
6. Medical personnel monitor individuals' cumulative dose levels and provide medical feedback to operators and their commands. Information can be accessed online.
It is to be understood that the foregoing description and specific embodiments are merely illustrative of the best mode of the invention and the principles thereof, and that various modifications and additions may be made to the invention by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, which is therefore understood to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for Governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefore.
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