SBIR-STTR Award

Modern military aircraft have increased in system complexity and technical capabilities to the point that they are taxing the cognitive limits of their human operators. This presents a safety risk and can compromise mission outcomes. The DOD has implemented mitigations to reduce the incidence of Physiological Events (PE), but a recent surge in fatal military aircraft accidents is renewing the military’s dedication to curb the underlying factors. There is a negative impact on mission performance and an increased risk of accidents associated with sleep deprivation, extended time on intense attention demanding tasks, physical exertion, acute or chronic stress, strong and extended acceleration, as well as hypoxia. The high risk of human error caused by such human factors is one of the most challenging problems facing the military, creating a need to monitor cognitive fatigue in personnel to enable real-time mitigations. The Defense Health Agency is soliciting the development of a helmet integrated dry electrode electroencephalography (EEG) system to enable such monitoring of aircrew during flights, and in response, QUASAR is proposing to develop a Dry Electrode Flight helmet Integrated Eeg System (DEFIES), incorporating the company’s dry electrodes into a military flight helmet.

The National Commission on Military Aviation Safety determined that between 2013 and 2020, 224 lives, and 186 aircraft were lost due to military aviation mishaps amounting to losses of $11.6 billion. It is well documented that there is a negative impact on mission performance and an increased risk of accidents associated with sleep deprivation, extended time on intense attention demanding tasks, physical exertion, acute or chronic stress, strong and extended acceleration (gravity induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC)), as well as hypoxia, etc. While military crafts and planes have hundreds of sensors, their operators’ vitals and cognitive states are not often monitored. There is a dire need to monitor cognitive fatigue pilots, warfighters, and other mission critical operators, to enable real-time mitigations. Accordingly, the DoD is soliciting the development of a helmet integrated dry electrode electroencephalography (EEG) system to enable such monitoring of aircrew during flights. QUASAR’s technology has been developed under DoD funding and validated in various military relevant environments, including, simulated command center and UAV controllers, dismounted warfighters, and stationary flight simulators as well as for the study of the impacts of hypoxia on cognitive workload, the effects of age on driver performance, and the quantification of cognitive workload during ambulation. Furthermore, QUASAR’s dry electrodes have been reported to record artifact-free EEG signals when donned on board a stationary military aircraft with all systems and engines activated. QUASAR’s dry electrode EEG technology is thus ideally suited for this application, and accordingly, in response to this solicitation, QUASAR is proposing to develop a Dry Electrode Flight helmet Integrated Eeg System (DEFIES). DEFIES is a flight helmet that incorporates QUASAR’s patented hybrid capacitive and resistive dry electrode sensors and is designed to enable acquisition of high-fidelity EEG signals in flight simulators and actual flights where pilots are required to wear flight safety helmets. During Phase I, QUASAR built a first functional DEFIES prototype and drafted a product requirements document as well as a safety, regulatory, and validation plans for the Phase II prototype. In Phase II, QUASAR will revise DEFIES to meet those requirements, test for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) and helmet safety, as well as validate the usability of the revised prototype in a 6DOF flight simulator and a plane to bring it to a TRL6. DEFIES is well poised to first help in investigating the neurophysiological factors that underly Physiological Events (PEs) in aviation and later be a part of deployed solutions for closed-loop monitoring and mitigation of related cognitive impairments. This project could thus ultimately reduce PEs due to loss of consciousness, hypoxia, and cognitive fatigue during military flights.