Developed under a DARPA program, the Blast Gauge sensor system from Black Box Biometrics (B3) collects data about blast exposure.
One of the great features of the Blast Gauge is that it gives instant feedback after an event. Simply depress a detent on the face of the device and the Soldier gets a Green, Amber or Red light based on the level of blast overpressure. Additionally, the device can be interrogated and data about the last 10 events downloaded and reviewed by medical personnel to allow them to characterize the exposure and formulate a treatment plan.
The device is small and can be mounted on the rear of the helmet as well as the chest and shoulder allowing for more accurate collection of overpressure waves and their effects on different areas of the body.
I see a lot of advantages with the Blast Gauge. It is compact and lightweight, offering immediate feedback to the Soldier. Additionally, it assists in triage and subsequent treatment options as well as overall research into blast overpressure.
Tags: Black Box Biometrics, SOMA
This will help a lot for post-blast analysis as well. Will help quantify the effects at the scene for forensics and CEXC/WIT folks.
We used this in Afghanistan , and not once did they work. When they did work the information was completely inaccurate.
That is some very interesting feedback, Was this an over the fence fielding or was there tech support?
Justin, did you ever tell anyone about this? I talk with a lot of people that have or are wearing these and have never heard this before.
Jeff, we brought up to our Chain of Command but where it went from there, i do not know. Other people in my company also had the same problem. I remember in one blast that we took, i was about within 50 meters of a blast and my gauge did not go off, either did the soldiers inside of the vehicle of the blast. My PSGT at the end of the convoy went off. The gauge read red.
SSD- I want to say it was fence fielding because our medics instructed us on how these worked. I wasn’t aware of any tech support but this was also back in April-May time when we were given these.
If the vehicle was not breached you may not have overpressures above threshold inside the vehicle.
We basically stopped using these. After using them for the first 90 days more then half lost 1 or 2 of the 3. Issued them out again then never bothered with them again. Have boxes of these sitting in the aidstation. Guidance was never given about what to do with them either (other then everyone needs to have 3) probably why they fell to the wayside 3 months in the deployment. To comment on them not working I know we had guys place a few near BIPs and it never triggered anything. Maybe the blast wasnt big enough idk.
The units have to be activated prior to use. Perhaps they had not been turned on before your test.