A Modular BLE-Based Body Area Network Embedded into a Smart Garment for Rescuers Real-Time Monitoring in Emergency Scenarios

In this work, we present a prototype of a smart technical underwear for first responders involved in searchand-rescue operations, to be worn under the rescuer’s professional uniform. Polymer-based electrodes able to detect ECG and EMG signals, and organic transistor for joint angles estimation are embedded into the smart garment. The technical underwear implements a body sensor network of BLE nodes able to acquire, process in real-time and transmit electrophysiological and biomechanical data from the sensors to a custom Android app on the rescuer’s smartphone. The app geolocates the data by using the information of the GPS integrated into the smartphone and sends them to the control center for remote monitoring. The system features high modularity, as the rescuer can adopt a subset of sensors depending on the specific operative context, without any app configuration.