Vital Helmet is in the framework of the VitalResponder (VR) line of research (http://www.vitalresponder.pt/).
The goal of the Vital Responder research project is to explore the synergies between innovative wearable technologies, scattered sensor networks, intelligent building technology and precise localization services to provide secure, reliable and effective first-response systems in critical emergency scenarios. The core problem under consideration is to evaluate human stress in real-time under adverse conditions, by means of continuous online vital sign monitoring of first responders. Turning this vision into engineering reality requires significant advances on the several fronts: (a) real-time information gathering of body signals is very hard to achieve in uncontrolled and dangerous environments, (b) GPS based location systems do not work indoors, and (c) inter-disciplinary research between engineers and clinicians on the origins and nature of physiological stress is still at an infant stage.
Following the development of the VR wearable platform, this proposal aims at the evolution of the helmet module to new requirements, namely to evolve its hardware sensing architecture so that it can have different sets of environmental sensors adaptable to different critical scenarios such as chemical industry, petrol refineries, plastic and related industry, etc.