STARwatch to Deliver Objective Sleep Measures for Spaceflight Operations

This project will achieve a wrist-worn actigraphy device called STARwatch, designed specifically for space exploration environments. It will provide a minimally obtrusive, objective measure that evaluates astronaut sleep-wake activity and light exposure. This project will leverage our second generation actigraphy device that has already been validated in controlled laboratory experiments against gold-standard polysomnography. The compact wrist-worn device includes sensors to collect sleep metrics and will also serve as a wireless hub to collect real-time physiological data from other body-worn sensors (e.g., heart rate, EEG). It will use standardized wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth) to automatically uplink data to the ISS network (no astronaut time required). Data will automatically be integrated into medical operations support systems (e.g., BHP-Dashboard) to provide immediate feedback to astronauts and flight surgeons to aid in decision-making relative to astronaut medical, behavioral health and performance issues. During Phase I, we will develop an enhanced STARwatch, integrate data from other body worn sensors (e.g., heart rate sensor), demonstrate automatic data streaming using approaches compatible with the ISS network environment, and develop a plan for operational validation and spaceflight certification that will be implemented during Phase II (Phase I TRL of 4-5).