GO E-Stim: A Robust Cognitive Fatigue Monitoring and Mitigation Wearable

Fatigue is a pervasive problem during high tempo operations in many mission scenarios. The high-performance flight environment imposes unique causes of fatigue on pilots and aeromedical personnel and limits countermeasure capabilities. Currently, the DoD does not require physiological monitoring of aircrew for the purpose of identifying decrements due to fatigue. However, steady decrements in performance in laboratory settings have been demonstrated and counter fatigue measures have proven successful, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and noninvasive vagal nerve stimulation (nVNS). In response to this need as detailed in the Air Force’s SBIR solicitation # AF221-D009 titled “Material Advances for Aerospace Cognitive Monitoring”, Quantum Applied Science And Research (QUASAR) proposes to integrate its wearable EOG & ECG sensors and with Soterix Medical Inc. (SMI)’s vagus nerve stimulator into a single wearable headband or glasses. The project will validate the monitoring component, and also explore the possibilities of fatigue mitigation with nVNS and tDCS. To optimize robustness and wearability of the system, QUASAR is including NextFlex, a manufacturing consortium specializing in flexible electronics. The team also includes Lockheed Martin, which will serve in an advisory role for system optimization and to facilitate testing.