Multi-parameter physiological monitoring for defence, training and tactical applications
Understanding how the human body responds during demanding military operations requires more than heart-rate data from a consumer wearable.
PCARDIO is a wearable physiological monitoring platform designed to measure multiple synchronized physiological signals, including ECG, ICG, respiration, PPG/SpO₂, core body temperature and motion.
By combining these measurements within one technology platform, PCARDIO provides researchers and defence technology developers with access to the underlying physiological data needed to investigate human performance, workload and physiological response under demanding conditions.
The platform can be used for physiological research and field studies, or adapted as the technology foundation for a dedicated military wearable. That is how it is being applied today: PCARDIO technology forms the physiological measurement core of a soldier-monitoring wearable currently being developed for the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, together with Elitac Wearables and Offroad Apps.
What can PCARDIO measure?
Rather than relying on a single parameter, PCARDIO combines multiple physiological measurements that provide complementary information about the cardiovascular and respiratory system.
ECG – cardiac electrical activity
Continuous ECG captures the electrical activity of the heart and provides the underlying signal for parameters such as heart rate and heart rate variability.
Access to the ECG waveform allows researchers to evaluate signal quality and develop or validate their own processing and algorithms rather than depending solely on proprietary calculated outputs.
ICG – impedance cardiography
Impedance cardiography (ICG) measures changes in thoracic electrical impedance associated with cardiac activity.
Combining ICG with ECG provides additional information for cardiovascular research and creates opportunities to investigate parameters that cannot be derived from heart rate alone.
Respiration
Bio-impedance measurement can be used to capture respiratory activity and derive breathing-related parameters.
Recording respiration alongside ECG, ICG and movement makes it possible to investigate cardiovascular and respiratory responses within the same synchronized dataset.
PPG and SpO₂
Optical PPG sensing provides an additional cardiovascular signal and can support measurement of pulse-related parameters and oxygen saturation (SpO₂).
Importantly, PPG can be synchronized with ECG and the other physiological channels rather than operating as an isolated measurement.
Core body temperature
Core body temperature is an important physiological parameter for research involving physical exertion, heat exposure and thermoregulation.
PCARDIO technology can incorporate core body temperature monitoring alongside the other physiological measurements, enabling temperature changes to be analysed in relation to cardiovascular response, respiration and physical activity.
Motion and activity
Integrated inertial sensing captures movement and activity.
This provides essential context for interpreting physiological data. A cardiovascular response during intense physical activity has a very different meaning from a similar response while the wearer is stationary.
The value is in combining the signals
The individual sensors are only part of the measurement system.
For advanced physiological monitoring, the ability to measure multiple signals simultaneously and keep them synchronized can be more valuable than any individual parameter.
A PCARDIO dataset can combine:
ECG + ICG + respiration + PPG/SpO₂ + core body temperature + motion
on a common timeline.
This makes it possible to investigate relationships between cardiovascular response, respiration, oxygen saturation, temperature and physical activity during training or operational scenarios.
Instead of providing only a calculated consumer metric, PCARDIO can provide access to the underlying physiological signals required for research, algorithm development and validation.
Investigating wearable blood pressure measurement
The combination of synchronized ECG, ICG and PPG also creates opportunities to investigate cardiovascular parameters that are difficult to measure continuously with conventional wearable technology.
One area currently being investigated within the PCARDIO platform is cuffless blood pressure measurement.
By analysing information from multiple synchronized cardiovascular signals, we are investigating whether blood pressure can ultimately be determined at a level of accuracy suitable for clinical applications.
This is ongoing research and development. PCARDIO does not currently claim clinical-grade cuffless blood pressure measurement.
The distinction is important: rather than presenting an unvalidated blood-pressure estimate as a finished parameter, the platform provides the synchronized physiological signals and technology required to develop and validate such methods.
Why monitoring soldiers in the field is different
In a laboratory or clinic, physiological measurement takes place under controlled conditions. In the field, the same measurement has to keep working through sweat, movement, body armour, heat and cold, and days of continuous wear – and it has to be most reliable at exactly the moments that matter most: when a soldier is exhausted, overheating or wounded. This changes what is required from the measurement technology.
A clean signal without gel electrodes. Adhesive gel electrodes are impractical for multi-day use. PCARDIO’s measurement electronics and signal processing are designed to obtain usable ECG and bio-impedance signals from dry or textile electrodes on a moving body, and to make signal quality visible rather than hiding it behind a single number.
Silence when required. A wireless transmission can give away a position, so there are moments when a wearable is not allowed to send anything. PCARDIO records continuously onboard and can record and stream simultaneously: the wearable can go silent when the situation demands it and forward the complete dataset later, without gaps in the record.
Movement is part of the measurement. Running, crawling and carrying load produce motion artefacts in every biosignal. Because PCARDIO records inertial data synchronized with the physiological channels, movement can be separated from physiological response and artefacts can be recognised as such instead of being misread as cardiac events.
Built to be integrated. A soldier wearable is a system: textile carrier, electrodes, measurement electronics, power, a hub or radio, and the software that turns signals into alerts. PCARDIO is designed as the measurement component in that system, with defined interfaces for data and power, so that a wearable design partner can integrate it into a rugged garment and a system integrator can connect it to the wider tactical architecture.
Why not simply use a fitness tracker?
Consumer fitness trackers are highly optimized for convenient everyday monitoring, but defence research often requires something different.
A researcher may need access to the actual ECG or PPG waveform, known sampling characteristics, synchronization between cardiovascular and respiratory measurements, local data storage, controlled processing and the ability to integrate measurements into another system.
PCARDIO is designed as a physiological measurement platform rather than a closed consumer wearable.
Depending on the configuration, the platform can provide:
- raw physiological signal access
- ECG measurement
- ICG measurement
- bio-impedance respiration
- PPG and SpO₂
- core body temperature
- synchronized inertial measurement
- continuous onboard recording
- real-time wireless data streaming
- simultaneous recording and streaming
- configurable firmware and signal processing
- algorithm development
- integration into custom wearable systems
This provides defence organisations, universities and technology developers with considerably more control over both the physiological data and the final measurement architecture.
From physiological measurement to actionable parameters
PCARDIO deliberately separates measurement from interpretation.
Parameters such as physiological stress, fatigue, heat strain or readiness cannot simply be assumed from one sensor measurement. Their usefulness depends on the signals available, the algorithm, the population, the operational context and the validation behind the resulting parameter.
Our approach is therefore:
Measure → Synchronize → Analyse → Develop → Validate → Integrate
PCARDIO provides the underlying multi-parameter measurement technology and can support development of application-specific algorithms on top of these signals.
This enables defence research programmes to investigate which combinations of physiological parameters actually provide useful information for their intended application before those algorithms are integrated into an operational wearable.
From research platform to custom military wearable
Not every programme needs to start by developing custom hardware.
An existing PCARDIO configuration can first be used to collect physiological data, evaluate sensor performance and determine which parameters are relevant.
The technology can subsequently be adapted to the final application.
This can include customization of:
- sensor configuration and electrodes
- electronics and PCB architecture
- mechanical form factor
- firmware
- local data storage
- wireless communication
- sampling and synchronization
- signal-processing algorithms
- PC or gateway software
- integration with garments, belts, patches or other wearable systems
This creates a development path from physiological research platform to application-specific wearable technology without having to develop the complete measurement chain from scratch.
In practice: soldier monitoring for the Netherlands Ministry of Defence
PCARDIO technology is currently being applied in a programme for the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with Elitac Wearables and VitalsIQ. The goal is a wearable system for physiological monitoring of soldiers in the field, including the monitoring of casualties while they await or receive care.
In this programme Elitac Wearables leads the design of the wearable, the textile integration and the project management. The physiological measurement technology inside the wearable – sensors, analogue measurement electronics, embedded hardware, firmware and synchronized data acquisition – is PCARDIO technology from 2M Engineering.
The programme illustrates the development path described above: rather than developing a measurement chain from scratch, the defence organisation starts from an existing, field-tested measurement platform and builds the operational wearable around it. That shortens the route from requirement to a system that can be trialled with soldiers, and keeps the focus on the question that actually matters: which physiological parameters provide useful information in this specific operational context.
Details of the programme are confidential. If you are working on a comparable application – soldier or casualty monitoring, pilot or diver monitoring, training and selection, or a tactical medical wearable – we are happy to discuss what PCARDIO technology could mean for your system.
PCARDIO – the physiological measurement technology underneath the wearable
2M Engineering develops the complete PCARDIO measurement platform: from physiological sensors and analogue measurement electronics to embedded hardware, firmware, synchronized data acquisition and algorithm development.
For defence technology developers, this means PCARDIO does not have to be the final wearable.
It can be the measurement technology inside it.
Whether the objective is soldier physiological monitoring, casualty monitoring, human-performance research, pilot monitoring or development of a new tactical medical wearable, the same underlying PCARDIO technology can be adapted to the required form factor and system architecture.
Start with the physiological signals. Determine what they can tell you. Then build the operational wearable around the measurements that matter.
Want to know what PCARDIO technology could do inside your soldier wearable? Get in touch or start with the PCARDIO evaluation kit to collect your first synchronized physiological data in the field.
