The HAWK™ Hypoxia Detection and Alerting System for Military Pilots

Military aircraft that fly at high altitudes and/or conduct high-g maneuvers require sophisticated safety systems to prevent the pilot from becoming susceptible to the negative effects of hypoxia and gravitational loss of consciousness. Pressure breathing and g-suits help to address these issues; however, a noninvasive warning system is required to alert the pilot to physiologic conditions signaling a hypoxic condition. This is complicated by the highly dynamic environment (pressure breathing, g-loading, pilot movement, irregular breathing, anti-g straining, mask seepage, hypoxia tolerance variation) and that the system must be adaptable to existing systems without modification by the component/system vendor. Safe, Inc. has conceived of a self-powered/low-power wireless noninvasive hypoxia sensor suite that offers ultra-high accuracy measurement (>99%) of blood/breathe oxygenation status with the superior fault-mitigation technology and near real-time responsiveness of hypoxia sensing. Fault mitigation and measurement accuracy is afforded by multi-modal sensors that assess O2 and CO2 metabolism as well as blood oxygenation. Advanced algorithms are employed to account for pilot movement and low blood perfusion. Sensors are mask-mounted and communicate wirelessly to a fore-arm mounted alerting system.