Equivital’s wearable technology can protect soldiers from heat stress injuries, fatalities

Aug 31 2017

As militaries worldwide struggle with soldiers suffering from heat stress – due to increased training pressures and heavier kit – Equivital looks to combat these injuries and fatalities by designing wearable technology that can save soldier’s lives.

Equivital’s Black Ghost system provides valuable information to commanders and medics on a soldier’s temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, position, and activity. The Black Ghost application also now includes a novel Heat Strain Index (HSI). HSI is the ultimate tool in estimating current heat strain and predicting an impending heat related injury. Alerts and thresholds can be tailored to each user and the data allows commanders to intervene in a timely manner when a threshold is breached.

Not only does the Equivital system provide a current estimation of heat strain, it also has the functionality to predict 15 minutes in the future the heat risk related to an individual if they were to continue in the same environment at the same activity level. This information could be vital in preventing heat stress injuries in military units worldwide.

Anmol Sood, CEO of Equivital, comments:

Heat stress can impair a person’s cognitive function and this is dangerous for those operating in extreme and unpredictable environments. The Black Ghost system is designed to provide supporting data to a team leader or medic and reduce the burden on the individual. The Heat Strain Index empowers individuals and teams for better decision making backed up by contextualized data. Black Ghost enables commanders to provide smarter, safer training and ultimately to save lives.

Equivital is launching V5 of its Black Ghost system at DSEI 2017, at stand S3-357. The new version brings unparalleled accessibility, new functionality, and improved usability, having taken on detailed feedback from multiple military partners. The new system will enable commanders to make informed decisions, faster, with relevant data at their fingertips, on a mobile device or PC.