Motorola showcased a solution developed by Annapolis, Md.–based Zephyr Technology — in which Motorola made a capital investment last year — that monitors and wirelessly transmits data on body functions such as heart rate, breathing rate and skin temperature. The data is transmitted via Bluetooth to a radio connected to a laptop that displays the data. As many as 64 personnel can be monitored by a single application, and the solution can support multiple applications, said David Klein, a Motorola marketing manager.

The capabilities are ideal for monitoring the health conditions of particularly firefighters, who especially are prone to heat- and stress-related health issues when at an incident. However, Motorola also is seeing a lot of interest in using the solution for training purposes, Klein said. “A significant number of heart issues do occur during training, and firefighters actually spend more time training than they do fighting fires,” he said.

Using the solution in a training scenario provides two very big benefits, Klein said. The obvious one is that the data would indicate when the firefighter has entered a health danger zone, and the training exercise could be curtailed before the firefighter is stricken. Less obvious is that the collected data could indicate that a firefighter has an underlying health issue of which he and his department are unaware. “Education and knowledge of the person’s health always is going to be the best way to help them over the long run,” Klein said.

The Zephyr biometric monitor is available as a chest strap or integrated in a pullover shirt. For a firefighter, the advantage of the pullover shirt is that it is more comfortable than the chest strap, a key consideration because the monitor is worn for the entire shift. Also, it’s faster and easier to get turnover gear on over the monitor when it’s integrated into the pullover shirt compared to the chest-strap version, Klein said.

Those who might be worried about the shirt’s durability shouldn’t fret, according to Klein. “Zephyr knows that the shirt is going to take a beating and be subjected to a lot of rough environments, so they invested a lot into its durability and comfort. For instance, in a military situation you might be wearing it under a flak jacket and other items … so they’ve tried to make it as comfortable as possible. If it’s comfortable, it’s more likely that it will be used.”

When firefighters change their stationwear after fighting a blaze, the module that collects, stores and transmits the biometric data can be removed from the shirt that needs to be laundered and placed into another shirt, Klein said.