Design Interactive, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: J201-CSO1

Description

Naval aircrew of the FA-18 reported physiological episodes (PEs) at five times the rate in 2016 as compared to 2010, leading to widespread cancellation of training flights. Aircrew and mission partners operate at altitude and can experience a lack of oxygen, exposure to contaminants, and/or rapid cycling of cabin pressure, causing hypoxia, hypercapnia, or decompression sickness. Under private investment, federal funds, commercial sales, and DoD R&D, Design Interactive, Inc. has developed robust capabilities to combine emerging COTS physiological sensors with novel and proprietary algorithms to measure warfighter physiological states in real-time. That work, the Biosignature Evaluation and Analytics Toolkit (BEAT) has been expanded into three separate capabilities: BEAT- Operations to support operational needs for special operators, BEAT-Training to support training needs for Federal law enforcement, and BEAT-Research enabling next-generation R&D at DARPA and MSAT, a mobile ecosystem that supports the therapeutic needs for service members and separated veterans battling PTSD. As an expansion of the BEAT portfolio, DI proposes the development of BEAT-Air, a comprehensive toolkit for collecting, analyzing, and informing flight crews on PEs to improve flight crew safety, flight crew effectiveness, and post-flight review of crew physiological response and performance.