That's particularly important given US military guidelines. Soldiers relatively close to an explosion (about 165 feet) are supposed to stand down for a full day and get a medical checkup. That's not enough time to properly assess brain trauma, and it's not very practical in a densely packed field base. Why take half of your troops out of the action if just a handful of them are at risk? BLAST could limit the stand-down order to soldiers that are actually affected, and spare those who were behind cover or otherwise untouched.

The system is still in the lab right now, but its first field tests should start within a year and a half. Ultimately, ONR would like to put this in the hands of acquisition teams within 3 to 5 years. The office is mainly focused on the Navy and Marine Corps, but this invention could easily be vital to just about any soldier in a combat zone -- it could make the difference between a trip to the field hospital and staying on the front line.