LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N182-114

Description

Dehydration is a significant issue for both military and civilian personnel. However, it is of increased concern in the military fast-jet environment. Due to inconvenient urine relief mechanisms, aircrew can often become dehydrated over the course of an extended mission, whether intentionally or inadvertently. Dehydration is known to result in cognitive shortcomings, and given the complex nature of piloting an aircraft, such cognitive impairment has the potential to reduce mission efficacy or require mission termination. An increased incidence of these situations has spurred a desire to develop advanced, non-invasive aircrew hydration monitoring methods. Luna proposes development of an accurate, non-invasive dehydration measurement system optimized for the Naval fast-jet environment. This system, termed the Wearable Aircrew Hydration Tracking and Extended Recording system – or WAHTER –will be designed for placement on extremities, and will function by monitoring the impedance of skin, which varies with systemic hydration status. The device will perform onboard open-architecture signal processing while consuming very little power, ensuring intervention-free operation even on missions exceeding 8 hours duration. Further, the device will be designed to interface with the Athena GTX HMAPS system, which is the central control unit of an advanced aircrew biometrics monitoring suite.