Firm tracks brain waves to find stressed troops

Firm tracks brain waves to find stressed troops
Max Jarman - The Arizona Republic
Posted : Thursday Nov 1, 2007 13:16:45 EDT

Imagine a critical wartime mission with lives on the line. There are no outward signs of agitation, but several key soldiers are so stressed that the operation could be in jeopardy.

New technology, being developed by Honeywell International's aerospace division, could alert the commanding officer, and the troubled fighters could be replaced.

It's mind-reading of the high-tech kind, and Honeywell is in the forefront of the research for the Army.

The Phoenix division is working on technology that monitors soldiers' brain waves and heart rates to identify ones who are stressed out, information-overloaded and possibly unreliable.

The technology, being developed under a $10 million contract, has other potential applications in military and civilian life. It is being looked at by medics as a tool to quickly identify injured soldiers in the field and perform remote triage. It also could lead to more accurate tests for heart and neurological disorders.

But requiring soldiers to submit themselves to the monitoring raises potential ethics and privacy questions.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_brainwaves_071101/



uhc comment: If DoD made the test mandatory, there would be no stigma. It would become as routine as keeping your inoculations current.

This is horrifying.