Using Data from Wearable Electronics in the Military Environment - Security, Privacy, and Software Development Style Discussion

Remote monitoring of vital signs in military environments through wearable devices can be utilized in numerous areas, such as health risk prevention, optimization of lifestyle recommendations for soldiers, and evaluation of methods development that can increase the resilience of members of the armed forces and others. As vital signs sensors, consumer wearables, considering their accuracy in data collection, could render a viable option for particular types of studies because of their user comfort, low price, and general availability. To draw conclusions from the vital signs data, they must be accumulated over longer time periods, which implies special concerns about data security and privacy, especially in the military context. To this end, the usage of commercial applications for the collection and management of research data in the military medical research environment might be limited, and custom development of casespecific applications might seem like a more suitable solution. This paper discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and key aspects of both variants, employment of commercial software or custom development. Furthermore, to illustrate this comparison, it gives a high-level example of a custom development of such a system in the Czech Armed Forces. This example, the Human Extending System (HES), is designed to collect, store, and analyze physiological data from wearable electronics, specifically Garmin devices, for military applications. The system allows physical training specialists, physicians, and healthcare personnel to monitor the physiological parameters of soldiers. The system is designed to provide commanders with insights into their units’ combat readiness.