Better sleep for soldiers may come through sensor, ML data - Military Embedded Systems

An ongoing project intends to enable military and other scientists to monitor and even enhance the ways in which a soldier's brain sleeps and, importantly, attains rest and repair. The effort – a collaboration between the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) and scientists and engineers at Rice University (Houston, Texas) – is only one of a group of sensor-driven military projects seeking to create wearable technology to track and improve soldier performance and outcomes. Scientists at the Houston-based university are developing a noninvasive "sleeping cap" that analyzes the glymphatic system, the flow of fluid that is thought to cleanse and rid the brain of common metabolic waste during sleep. The cap will be used to further understand how the human brain deals with that waste, and if that function actually prepares and refreshes people for the next day. A team at Rice University's NeuroEngineering Initiative – together with teams from Rice's Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) and physicians from Houston Methodist Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston – are developing a lightweight skullcap that can analyze the wearer's glymphatic function and stimulate proper flow to treat sleep disorders and improve wakefulness and day-to-day function.