Clinical Monitoring of Chilean Miners Stuck Half a Mile Underground

As of this writing, just over half of the trapped Chilean miners have been pulled out of the mine after spending more than two months underground, and initial 17 days without any contact with the outside world. Zephyr Technology out of Annapolis, Maryland is proudly touting that its Physiological Status Monitors have been used to keep an eye on the health of the miners. The guys had to do daily exercises to keep themselves in shape and to be able to fit into the extraction capsule, while medics on the surface were able to monitor their heart rate, breathing, and other vitals.
More about Zephyr’s technology from the product page:

Sensors – Zephyr BioModules measure vital signs including heart rate, EKG, R to R, breathing rate, skin temperature, activity and posture. The BioModule can be worn on Zephyr’s patented chest strap; the BioHarness, or integrated into the BioShirt. Zephyr also integrates other sensors into specific solution sets including Blood Pressure, SPO2 as well as environmental sensors

Communication – Vital signs are then communicated by using ISM or Bluetooth from the BioHarness to a local user’s display or to longer range radios for remote monitoring anywhere in the world. Zephyr currently supports a number of radios including Motorola, Harris, Thales and Trellisware in addition to many major cell phones

Display and Analysis Applications – OmniSense is the software platform used to display the BioHarness data. OmniSense operates in a Windows based environment as well as on BlackBerry and Android Smart Phones.

OmniSense Live – Zephyr’s patented BioGauge displays real time EKG of a specific individual or the vital status of entire team simplified down to a single Red – Orange – Green status indicator