Being swamped with information can be a matter of life and death for soldiers, pilots and police officers. So US defence firm Honeywell has patented a device that would reduce information overload.

Soldiers’ uniforms would conceal an electrocardiogram, galvanic skin response detector, and respiration and blood pressure sensors. These instruments should be able to tell when a person is breathing hard, sweating and has a racing pulse. If so, the time is probably not right for HQ to ask them any mundane questions.

The same system should be able to sense when a person is calm and breathing easy, so ready to receive a load of information.

If all the sensors suggest that the solider is dead, the patent suggests that important messages should be relayed to another whose sensors still show signs of life.

Via New Scientist. More puzzling military patent: Coded smells to give orders.