Pilot Physiologic Assessment System (PPAS)

Orbital Research Inc in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (NASA GRC), Kent State University (KSU) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will design and test the second generation, Pilot Physiologic Assessment System (PPAS-2) as part of the Phase I option and Phase II SBIR program funded by the U.S. Navy. The system will be a comprehensive bio-monitoring suite that acquires physiologic metrics such as cardiovascular, metabolic, thermal and oxygen saturation from aircrew. PPAS will leverage complementary sensors and hardware from both a wearable sensor suite (Lunar Health Monitor-LHM) developed by Orbital Research and a portable gas composition and flow analysis system (Portable Unit for Metabolic Analysis - PUMA) developed by engineers at NASA GRC. The ultimate goal of the proposed program is a monitoring system that can detect physiologic changes, predict the onset of symptoms and alert the user. To accomplish this goal, the PPAS will non-invasively monitor the physiologic profile of the pilots/aircrews throughout the mission. The physiologic profile will be used to generate alarms or warnings to the pilot based on detectable physiological changes associated with hypoxia exposure. At the completion of the Phase II program, the PPAS-2 will be a miniaturized non-invasive sensor suite for collecting physiologic measurements to detect hypoxic state.