Wearables at the Edge to Augment Readiness (WEAR)

OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Advanced Materials, Microelectronics OBJECTIVE: The objective of the Wearables at the Edge to Augment Readiness (WEAR) SBIR topic is to develop a secure and lightweight framework for real-time analysis of sensory data from wearables to monitor warfighter health and readiness at the edge. DESCRIPTION: Wearable technology is now fundamental to all areas of the human ecosystem. The term wearable technology refers to small electronic and mobile devices, or computers with wireless communications capability that are incorporated into gadgets, accessories, or clothes, which can be worn on the human body [1]; for the purposes of this SBIR topic, it does not apply to invasive versions such as micro-chips or smart tattoos. Wearable technology can provide invaluable physiological and environmental data that can potentially be used to assess a warfighters’ physical/mental wellness and readiness. Modern edge devices, like smartphones and smart watches, are equipped with an ever-increasing set of sensors, such as accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, etc., that can continuously record users’ movements and motion [2]. The observed patterns can be an effective tool for seamless Human Activity Recognition which is the process of identifying and labeling human activities by applying Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) to sensor data generated by smart devices both in isolation and in combination [3, 4]. However, smartphone and wearable sensor signals are typically noisy and can lack context/causality due to inaccurate timestamps when the device sleeps, goes into low-power mode, or experiences high resource utilization. Thus, it can be challenging to fuse any of the various raw sensor data to achieve positive or negative assessment in wellness areas such as personal healthcare, injuries, fall detection, as well as monitoring functional/behavioral health. For instance, sensor data can be processed into feature data related to sleep or different physical activities that potentially correlate to effects on an individual’s health [5, 6]. The objective of WEAR is to develop a secure and lightweight framework for real-time analysis of sensory data from wearables to monitor warfighter health and readiness at the edge. Importantly, WEAR will achieve this goal while consuming less than 5% of the wearable battery over 10 days, assuming an initial full battery charge. The battery consumption metric is of particular interest to WEAR as warfighters at the edge (e.g., expeditionary forces deployed to remote locations or Special Operations Forces units) may not be able to recharge wearable batteries due to mission constraints limiting access to power sources for re-charging. Equally important is the need for all processing to occur at the edge because of security concerns [8]. Existing commercial efforts require cloud and off-premises server resources to analyze sensor data. PHASE I: This topic is soliciting Direct to Phase 2 (DP2) proposals only. Phase I feasibility will be demonstrated through evidence of: a completed proof of concept/principal or basic prototype system; definition and characterization of framework properties/technology capabilities desirable for both Department of Defense (DoD)/government and civilian/commercial use; and capability/performance comparisons with existing state-of-the-art technologies/methodologies (competing approaches). Entities interested in submitting a DP2 proposal must provide documentation to substantiate that the scientific/technical merit and feasibility described above has been achieved and also describe the potential commercial applications. DP2 Phase I feasibility documentation should include: • technical reports describing results and conclusions of existing work, particularly regarding the commercial opportunity or DoD insertion opportunity, risks/mitigations, and technology assessments; • presentation materials and/or white papers; • technical papers; • test and measurement data; • prototype designs/models; • performance projections, goals, or results in different use cases; and, • documentation of related topics such as how the proposed WEAR solution can enable accurate and reliable analysis of sensory data at the edge. This collection of material will verify mastery of the required content for DP2 consideration. DP2 proposers must also demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in AI/ML, data analytics, edge technologies, software development/engineering, and mobile security/privacy. For detailed information on DP2 requirements and eligibility, please refer to the DoD Broad Agency Announcement and the DARPA Instructions for this topic. PHASE II: The Personal Health Determinations (WEAR) SBIR topic seeks to develop a secure and lightweight framework that can perform real-time analysis of sensory data from wearables to monitor warfighter operational health and readiness at the edge, while consuming less than 5% of the wearable battery over 10 days, assuming an initial full battery charge (i.e., WEAR component overhead can be no more than 5% of the wearable battery over 10 days). One potential direction to achieve this goal is to leverage advances in low-power sensing at the chipset level present in modern mobile and wearable devices, including but not limited to “always-on sensing.” The primary interest is in commercial-off-the-shelf hardware paired with novel sensor drivers and algorithms developed to operate at low power. A secondary objective is to offer modular application programming interfaces (APIs) to access sensor data and edge ML models/algorithms that can fit into the resource-constrained environments of commercial wearables. The end goal is the capability to monitor and accurately assess warfighter operational health and readiness by using the sensory information on the edge devices without transporting information outside of the wearable or smartphone devices. Any custom hardware or sensors are out of scope for this solicitation. DP2 proposals should: • describe a proposed framework design/architecture to achieve the above stated goals; • present a plan for maturation of the framework to a demonstrable prototype system; and • detail a test plan, complete with proposed metrics and scope, for verification and validation of the prototype system performance. Phase II will culminate in a prototype system demonstration using one or more compelling use cases consistent with commercial opportunities and/or insertion into a DARPA program (e.g., Warfighter Analytics using Smartphones for Health (WASH [7]), which seeks to use data collected from cellphone sensors to enable novel algorithms that conduct passive, continuous, real-time assessment of the warfighter). The Phase II Option period will further mature the technology for insertion into a DoD/Intelligence Community (IC) Acquisition Program, another Federal agency; or commercialization into the private sector. The below schedule of milestones and deliverables is provided to establish expectations and desired results/end products for the Phase II and Phase II Option period efforts. Schedule/Milestones/Deliverables: Proposers will execute the research and development (R&D) plan as described in the proposal, including the below: • Month 1: Phase I Kickoff briefing (with annotated slides) to the DARPA Program Manager (PM) including: any updates to the proposed plan and technical approach, risks/mitigations, schedule (inclusive of dependencies) with planned capability milestones and deliverables, proposed metrics, and plan for prototype demonstration/validation. • Months 4, 7, 10: Quarterly technical progress reports detailing technical progress to date, tasks accomplished, risks/mitigations, a technical plan for the remainder of Phase II (while this would normally report progress against the plan detailed in the proposal or presented at the Kickoff briefing, it is understood that scientific discoveries, competition, and regulatory changes may all have impacts on the planned work and DARPA must be made aware of any revisions that result), planned activities, trip summaries, and any potential issues or problem areas that require the attention of the DARPA PM. • Month 12: Interim technical progress briefing (with annotated slides) to the DARPA PM detailing progress made (including quantitative assessment of capabilities developed to date), tasks accomplished, risks/mitigations, planned activities, technical plan for the second half of Phase II, the demonstration/verification plan for the end of Phase II, trip summaries, and any potential issues or problem areas that require the attention of the DARPA PM. • Month 15, 18, 21: Quarterly technical progress reports detailing technical progress made, tasks accomplished, risks/mitigations, a technical plan for the remainder of Phase II (with necessary updates as in the parenthetical remark for Months 4, 7, and 10), planned activities, trip summaries, and any potential issues or problem areas that require the attention of the DARPA PM. • Month 24: Final technical progress briefing (with annotated slides) to the DARPA PM. Final architecture with documented details; a demonstration of the ability to perform real-time analysis of sensory data at the edge while consuming less than 5% of the wearable battery over 10 days; documented APIs; and any other necessary documentation (including, at a minimum, user manuals and a detailed system design document; and the commercialization plan). • Month 30 (Phase II Option period): Interim report of matured prototype performance against existing state-of-the-art technologies, documenting key technical gaps towards productization. • Month 36 (Phase II Option period): Final Phase II Option period technical progress briefing (with annotated slides) to the DARPA PM including prototype performance against existing state-of-the-art technologies, including quantitative metrics for battery consumption and assessment of monitoring/assessment capabilities to support determinations of warfighter health status. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Phase III Dual use applications (Commercial DoD/Military): WEAR has potential applicability across DoD and commercial entities. For DoD, WEAR is extremely well-suited for continuous, low-cost, opportunistic monitoring of warfighter health in the field, where specialized equipment and medical experts are not necessarily available. WEAR has the same applicability for the commercial sector and has the potential to provide doctors and physicians with invaluable historical patient health data that can be correlated to their activities, environment, and physiological responses. Phase III refers to work that derives from, extends, or completes an effort made under prior SBIR funding agreements, but is funded by sources other than the SBIR Program. The Phase III work will be oriented towards transition and commercialization of the developed WEAR technologies. The proposer is required to obtain funding from either the private sector, a non-SBIR Government source, or both, to develop the prototype into a viable product or non-R&D service for sale in military or private sector markets. Primary WEAR support will be to national efforts to explore the ability to collect and fuse sensor data and apply ML algorithms at the edge to that data in a manner that does not drain device battery. Results of WEAR are intended to improve healthcare monitoring and assessment at the edge, across government and industry. 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(Available at https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wp.wpi.edu/dist/d/274/files/2017/05/DODBAA-SMARTPHONES.pdf) [8] Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/fitness-tracking-app-gives-away-location-of-secret-us-army-bases KEYWORDS: Wearable Technology, Health Monitoring, Health Assessment, Data Analytics, Edge Technology, Activity Recognition, Machine Learning