Hexoskin wins Canadian Space Agency contract for wearable health monitoring tech

Montreal’s Hexoskin, a.k.a. Carré Technologies, has been awarded a contract by the Canadian Space Agency to develop the On Astronaut Wireless Sensor System (OAWSS), an aspect of the CSA’s Advanced Crew Medical System (ACMS).

The contract was awarded through a request for proposals issued by the CSA’s Space Technologies Development Program.

“We’ve designed a unique wireless body sensor platform that provides long-term vital signs monitoring with a high level of accuracy, reliability, and configurability, and we’re very excited to have been selected by CSA for this project,” says Hexoskin CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier. “The technology developed will be useful to many space groups within CSA, including the Life Sciences and Space Medicine groups.”

OAWSS has the potential to become a standard for astronaut health monitoring during lengthy space missions.

As makers of the Astroskin astronaut medical monitoring system, a wearable platform for remote health monitoring currently undergoing evaluation, Carré Technologies already has a leg up in designing smart apparel for the CSA.

The On Astronaut Wireless Sensor System will be integrated into the ACMS to allow monitoring of astronaut health via sensors attached using a biocompatible adhesive attached to each astronaut’s body, providing health data in real time.

The OAWSS has as its objectives: the development and fabrication of Wireless Sensor Units, the development of a Sensor Interface Unit, and the development of a Data Management System.

The Data Management System includes Electronic Health Records (EHR), a real-time monitoring interface, and an application programming interface (API), compliant with the HL7 standard, which is a framework for the exchange, integration, sharing and retrieval of health records to support clinical practice and the management and delivery of health services.

Hexoskin has been a technology supplier to the CSA since 2011. The company has also commercialized its Hexoskin shirt, aimed at the sports training and health tracking markets.

Earlier this month, Hexoskin raised a $1.3 million round of funding to pursue FDA medical certification for its biometric clothing technology.