APPLIED PHYSICS SYSTEMS, INC. — Department of Defense STTR Phase II: HR001120S0019-18

Description

It is unknown how cockpit EM and RF exposures might affect pilot performance and physiology.  Animal, human, and physics research indicate that a pathway for such exposures to impact human physiology exists via aggregations of magnetite, a ferromagnetic nanocrystal.  Aggregations of magnetite have been found in many animal tissues, including in the human brain; they have been linked to magnetoreception, the ability of organisms to navigate by the geomagnetic field; and they have been found to readily absorb RF energy. In Phase II, we continue the development and use of sensors to record cockpit EM and RF exposures during prescribed flight patterns performed at OPL.  We augment the human test facilities at Caltech to create exposures extracted from the recordings, and to administer the flight patterns as flight simulator tasks.  We also continue the development of models and simulations of magnetite biophysics, to examine how the cockpit exposures result in energy absorption and conversion.  This may lead to the development of passive and/or electronic countermeasures that could be exploited commercially for testing and mitigation of exposure effects.