14 hours ago Dec. 23, 2013 - 5:55 AM PST

What if wearing a small patch on your arm enabled the detection of an oncoming cold, allowing for treatment to deter the onset of symptoms?

This type of innovative nanotechnology-enabled patch would allow people to make predictive decisions about their day, week or even month. The benefits are far-reaching. Nano-enabled sensors could monitor the health of patients in their own homes or could help coaches know when to remove athletes from a game or practice based on warning signs of overexertion or injury.

Imagine what we can do if we could extend our systems capability to include the physiological monitoring of humans, said Scott Fouse, the director of Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories. Not only could we monitor their health to aid in medical treatment, such as the case with warfighters, but we could also design our systems to optimize individual performance readiness, essentially closing the loop with the user.

In partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and General Electric (GE), Lockheed Martin is engineering a nano-enabled sensor that is small, lightweight and inexpensively produced. AFRL and Lockheed Martin will lead the application in the military arena while GE seeks to leverage the technology in the consumer and health industries.

Innovation is not exclusive to the invention of a technology. Employing new ways to engage partners gives GE, AFRL and Lockheed Martin the opportunity to develop new technology based on each organizations expertise and objectives from inception of the idea through engineering, design and future production.

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Sponsored post: Innovation drives nano-enabled sensors to monitor human health