March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and here at Active Safety System Technologies, we are working hard to understand the causes of Traumatic Brain Injury in armored vehicles.
According to the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) there are more than 5.3 million people in the U.S., including children, who are living with permanent brain injuries.
Brain injuries are classified into two broad categories if they are sustained after birth. In other words, when they are not related to birth or heredity, Acquired Brain Injury is a result of internal malfunctioning. This can be a tumor or lack of oxygen or some such condition that injures the brain. It is also called non-traumatic brain injury. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a result of external force or impact.
The most common form of TBI in the military is due to concussion with over 300,000 service members diagnosed with some form of TBI since 2000. However, whilst the risk of TBIs due to a blow or jolt to the head or an object penetrating the brain, the actual causes of TBIs inside armored vehicles which have not been penetrated is unknown.
When the brain is injured, the person can experience a change in consciousness that can range from becoming disoriented and confused to slipping into a coma. Common signs are amnesia, inability to speak or understand, mental confusion, difficulty concentrating, difficulty thinking and understanding, inability to create new memories or inability to recognize common things.
Even after travelling in an armored vehicle for some distance, troops have reported issues with disorientation and difficulty concentrating; which appears to be due to the vibration and noise; which can severely impact combat readiness. However, add to that the noise, vibration and acceleration (plus slam down) caused by a mine blast; and you can easily see how this could result in a TBI.
In such circumstances, the ability to recover the vehicle and rapid medical treatment is key to mitigating the impact of TBIs – therefore our technologies are designed to keep the vehicle upright and on the ground, so that evacuation and access for medical support is relatively simple.
We have also joined forces with leading experts in the field of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) to investigate the various causes inside armored vehicles subject to a mine blast, even where the armor protects the vehicle itself and the impact of the blast does not penetrate the hull; and determine how technology can best prevent or mitigate against those causes.
Help to make this a reality by supporting our crowdfunding round:
https://wefunder.com/active.safety.system.technologies.inc