Abstract
Health risks are a prevalent concern during High-Altitude Low Opening (HALO) and High-Altitude High Opening (HAHO) operations due to the low-oxygen environment. Jumpers must be constantly monitored to ensure safety prior to exiting the aircraft. To objectively monitor the biometrics of jumpers a piece of clothing was developed that would use wearable biometric sensors. Although there have been previous products intended for the same purpose, they were not suitable for the special needs of these operations. After discussing the intention of the product with experts, customer requirements and engineering specifications were developed and used to create four Army Combat Shirt (ACS) prototypes with integrated sensors to monitor the biometrics of jumpers in real-time. The goal is to integrate the sensors into a product to output the biometric data effectively and efficiently to the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) system, providing easily interpreted data to the jumpmaster. Testing of initial prototypes found that none met the durability and useability requirement of the HALO/HAHO environment. After multiple iterations of testing and product refinement, an arm sleeve was developed with an integrated sensor that would be worn on the left forearm of the jumper. The final product of an ATAK sleeve system will be created to objectively monitor jumpers heart rate variability and oxygen saturation levels before exiting the aircraft.
