Globe and its project team partner, Propel, will present its Wearable Advanced Sensor Platform (WASP), the system for real-time monitoring of physiology and location designed for firefighters and first responders.

Fostering collaboration

“Recent advances in technology have brought together the apparel, technology, and textile industries to develop new capabilities in fabrics with the potential to change how athletes, patients, soldiers, first responders, and everyday consumers interact with their clothes and other textile products,” said Penny Pritzker.

“Known as smart fabrics, these new high-tech products have the capability to interact with their user or environment, including by tracking and communicating data about their wearer or environment to other devices through embedded sensors and conductive yarns.”

“To foster greater collaboration between the US apparel, technology, and textile industries and to identify the public policies that could accelerate the design and manufacture of smart fabrics products by US companies, the Department of Commerce in partnership with the Industrial Fabrics Association International will host the Smart Fabrics Summit.”

Physiological stress

Firefighters experience extreme physiological stress during the course of their duties. According to the US Fire Administration, stress and overexertion account for 50% or more of firefighter line of duty deaths.

Factors that affect firefighter physiological responses include exertion of work performed, elevated thermal environment, wearing heavily insulated protective clothing, carrying heavy equipment, as well as individual health status, fitness level, medication, and hydration level. Firefighters are also exposed to extreme hazards during the course of emergency response.

WASP system

The WASP system tracks heart rate, heart rate variability, estimated core body temperature, respiration rate, activity levels, posture, and other physiological factors, as well as 3D location inside a building, the company reports.

Currently WASP provides instructors and trainees at training academies with mission-essential situational, real-time awareness of both physiological status and location/tracking of personnel to aid in decision making to improve safety and outcomes during training.

In the future, WASP will provide a tool for incident commanders on scene to track the status and location of team members to improve situational awareness and potentially shorten the time needed for a rapid intervention team to rescue a downed firefighter.

Commitment to research

“Globe is committed to research and development with the objective of advancing protection and safety for every firefighter and first responder,” said Mark Mordecai, Director of Business Development at Globe.

“Using the WASP system during live fire and resiliency training scenarios can help to improve safety and outcomes and paves the way to using this wearable technology in the field to improve safety for firefighters everywhere. Together with health screening and physical fitness, firefighter monitoring is a critical element to make sure that everyone comes home.”

www.globeturnoutgear.com