Nonintrusive Detector of Acute Cognitive Strain (DACS)

Modern defense systems place high cognitive demands on warfighters, often taxing the limit of human capabilities and causing operators to suffer Acute Cognitive Strain (ACS), wherein performance deteriorates markedly, leading to a loss of situational awareness and control, and decrements in team cooperativity. ACS leads to physiological changes driven by sympathetic system activation, including increased blood pressure, heart rate, sweatiness, muscle and voice tension, and shortness of breath. Human-machine teaming constructs can be made aware of operator state and ACS onset by measurement and quantification of these physiological signals. This project aims to develop a nonintrusive, wearable and reliable Detector of Acute Cognitive Strain (DACS). Based on multiple psychophysiological sensor modalities, DACS will continuously monitor for ACS onset. QUASAR will collaborate with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) to integrate multiple sensor modalities into a prototype sensor suite and develop ACS-inducing simulations for validation. In Phase II, the optimally minimal set of sensors will be selected based on initial testing results, and an integrated wearable system will be assembled and validated. The proposed noninvasive DACS system will be of great utility in military and nonmilitary mission-critical environments, such as command center operation or air traffic control.