Petr Volf

Wearable systems for monitoring the health condition of soldiers: Review and application

From the second half of the 1990s, thanks to more affordable and more powerful technology and systems for recording based on miniaturized sensors, we can observe a more intensive development of a system that monitors the physical and psychological conditions of soldiers. Systems for measuring of physical and medical data for the diagnostics of physical and psychological state has significantly spread. This study, however, examines the current technologies and usage of the wearable monitoring systems in military. The article can serve as a guide for choosing suitable and affordable systems of quantitative evaluation of physical and psychological conditions of soldiers. In addition, the innovative telemetry monitoring system (FlexiGuard system) composed of appropriate sensors is introduced. Based on previous researches and tests, FlexiGuard system and its sensors are recommended for use in military practice.

SYSTEM FOR MEASURING KINEMATICS OF VESTIBULAR SYSTEM MOVEMENTS IN NEUROLOGICAL PRACTICE

The article deals with the design of a system for studying kinematics of movement of the vestibular system. Up to now there has not existed a system which would enable to measure the kinematic quantities of movement of the individual parts of the vestibular system within its coordinate system. The proposed system removes these deficiencies by suitable positioning of five gyro-accelerometric units on the helmet. The testing of the system took place under two conditions, during Unilateral Rotation on Barany Chair and Head Impulse Test. During the testing, the system justified its application because the results show that the kinematic quantities of the movement of the left and right labyrinths of the vestibular system differ. The introduced device is mainly intended for application in clinical neurology with the aim to enable the physician to measure all linear and angular accelerations of the vestibular system during medical examinations.

Evaluation Methodology and Measurement of Physiological Data to Determine Operational Preparedness of Air Defense Staff: Preliminary Results

The aim of the article is to introduce new evaluation methodology to determine operational preparedness of air defense staff based on measurement of physiological data. The individuals working with air defense systems are under very high level of stress and long‐term monotone air picture observation workload during the mission. We designed an experiment and a method of measuring the biomedical signals for monitoring the actual operator condition during long‐term work on air picture simulator that shows real‐time aircraft flight information. Long‐term monitoring and recording of potential airborne targets in the area of interest to which operators are subjected is accompanied by monitoring the physiological data such as heart rate, body temperature, movement activity and perspiration intensity of operators. The proposed methodology and measurements were tested on four air defense system operators of the Army of the Czech Republic. Operators took part in a 4‐h intensive measurement without any break and their training was evaluated. Designed methods could help to monitor, on the base of physiological data and data from simulators, the stress load level and operational preparedness.

Physiological Data Monitoring of Members of Air Forces During Training on Simulators

Many complex situations can be induced to the members of air forces during training on simulators, which may result in mentally vigorous situations or even overload. The aim of the paper is to describe the current state and our contribution to development of systems for measurement of the physiological data of basic member of air force including mission commander, pilots, air traffic controllers and ground support staff. The reason for physiological data monitoring is to test the possibility of usage them to estimate the physical and psychological state of the team members. The base for the design of physiological data monitoring was the FlexiGuar system, originally developed at the FBMI CTU. The core of simulators for training of military personnel in aviation was Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D simulation software. Two airplane cockpits were used as simulators for training of two pilots, air traffic control simulator, i.e. a control tower simulator, and an airport ground station for the preparation of aviation ground staff. The proposed systems are used for simultaneous measurement of the working performance and physiological data of members of the four‐member team during their training. The physiological data, heart rate, body temperature, movement activity and perspiration intensity, are transferred to the commander visualization unit for further evaluation. Designed systems and methods could help to monitor, on the base of physiological data and data from simulators, the stress load of team members.

Quantifying Movement of the Head and Shoulders During Quiet Standing Using MatLab Software and Promising Parameters

In this paper, we describe a method for quantifying movement of the head and shoulders during quiet standing. The method proposed allows for the determination of postural stability of the head and shoulders, especially during the Romberg’s test, by recording the relative angular movements. The proposed software is used to calculate new parameters of the head and shoulder movements. These parameters are: the area of the confidence ellipse of the inclination of the head versus the inclination of the shoulders and the area of the confidence ellipse of the head rotation versus the shoulder rotation, the size of the main and minor axis of the confidence ellipse of the inclination of the head versus the inclination of the shoulders and the size of the main and minor axes of the confidence ellipse of the head rotation versus the shoulder rotation. The proposed method was implemented using MatLab software. To test this method, we compared the movements of the fourteen healthy subjects/volunteers and nine patients with an inner ear viral infection. Based on the data results, we identified that the parameters can be used to evaluate postural stability in neurology.

Semiportable Manually Actuated System for Measuring Muscle Spasticity

In the article, we describe a design of a new system which provides means to quantitatively assess passive resistance of skeletal muscles, also termed muscle spasticity. New design is focused on the measurement of muscle groups which are responsible for movement of elbow joint. The semiportable system is an alternative to expensive motorized isokinetic dynamometers. System is manually actuated dynamometer. The electronic subsystem of the system is used to measure angular velocity and torque in the elbow joint. An incremental encoder is used for the measurement of angular velocity. The angular velocity of the rotational movement in a joint is a result of movement effected by manually controlled lever. The lever is controlled by a physician. During the angular movement of the upper limb segments, the elbow joint torque is measured by a strain gauge subsystem. The output from the system is a graphic dependence between the angular velocity and the torque, which is used to evaluate spasticity. The dependence between the passive moment of force and kinematic angular parameters allows us to study complex motion and force possibilities of the joint. The designed system could be useable and widely applicable in clinical practice, as well as research of diseases and treatment of musculoskeletal system.

P 160 - Non-linear analysis of trunk movement of air defense staff: Pilot study

Measurements of acceleration of a persons body segment by wearable MoCap system is one of the most important tool to investigate a movement activity. However, the aim of our study is to assess the ability of the trunk movement activity assessment by non-linear method to identify and differences in traffic density and hours of shift work. Poincaré plot with five minute intervals in four hour length data was used to calculate the standard deviations SD1 and SD2. Also, air traffic density with five minute intervals in four hour length data was calculated. The results show that SD1 reflects the short-term variability, and SD2 reflects both short-term and long-term variability. The statistically significant differences found on SD1 values of different hours is the most important finding and indicates that the short-term variability of trunk movement activity is changing during hours of shift work. On the other hand, the traffic density does not have influence on SD. An explanation for this is that motion activity does not change with higher workload, but longer work activity does. Therefore, these findings and the proposed method can be used to optimize the duration of work shifts and working breaks of Air Defense Staff members.

Evaluation of Gait and Standing Posture by Software Based on SimMechanics

In this article, we describe a designed program and implemented methods for a study of characteristics of gait and standing by SimMechanic. The designed program is an alternative to specialized software, which is based on the linked-segment model. The developed model of the body in the program allows to determine, based on a recording of a body segment movement and quantitative parameters, the characteristics of the movement. The program allows the direct use of other MatLab toolboxes, which other software and programs. The designed model also allows to determine and evaluate kinematic and dynamical quantities of a stance and movement. We applied the designed methods for diagnostics and evaluation of a process of the treatment in clinical practice. The designed model of human body and analytical methods could also be useable and widely applicable in research of, for example, orthoses and prostheses.

A Technique for Quantifying the Relative Angular Movement of the Head and Shoulders

The objective of this study was to develop a method for quantifying the relative angular movements of the head and shoulders. To analyze and quantify the movement of aforementioned body parts, a turns index (TI) and range of motion (ROM) methods were chosen and used. It should be noted that the TI method hasn’t been used before in neurological practice. By using the TI, the physicians are directly informed about the intensity of patient movements. The measurements of both inclination and rotation were done to accuracy of 1˚ by MoCap system containing a combination of camera and gyroscope systems. Then, 2-D plot comparing the head and shoulder rotations and another 2-D plot comparing the head and shoulder inclinations were obtained. Combination of TI and ROM was then used to model the measured data distribution and evaluate the patient’s stability of his body posture. The correlation between the TIs and ROMs is negative moderate to negative strong. It is possible to use the new method for rehabilitation and diagnosis purposes.

Qualitative evaluation methods of movement of the vestibular system in neurological practice

The article deals with the proposal of methods for interpretation and analysis of the kinematic quantities of movement of the vestibular system. Up to now there have not been any systems which would enable us to measure the kinematic quantities of movement of the vestibular system within its coordinate system and the corresponding methods of interpretation and analysis of the kinematic quantities. The proposed methods remove these deficiencies and enable us to present and evaluate the data from five gyro-accelerometer units suitably positioned on a helmet. The physicians have an opportunity to evaluate the kinematic data by means of diagrams of time dependencies and 2D and 3D diagrams of the mutual dependencies of the kinematic quantities. The method was tested during the Head Impulse Test. The results show the characteristic movement patterns of the head and slight asymmetry in angular quantities and high asymmetry in translational quantities. The introduced methods are especially geared towards applications in clinical neurology and biomechanics.