GRAVITY INDUCED LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS DETECTION AND RECOVERY SYSTEM

INCIDENTS OF G-INDUCED LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (G-LOC), WITH THE ACCOMPANYING LOSS OF AIRCRAFT AND LIVES, HAVE OCCURRED WITH INCREASED FREQUENCY IN TODAY'S HIGH PERFORMANCE TACTICAL FIGHTERS. IN ADDITION, THE NUMBER OF G-LOC RELATEDMISHAPS NOW OCCURRING IN PEACE-TIME MAY BE CONSIDERABLY LESSTHAN THAT WHICH MIGHT BE EXPECTED IN COMBAT OR WITH THE MOREADVANCED FIGHTERS NOW BEING DEVELOPED. THE ABILITY OF THE HUMAN BODY TO WITHSTAND THE HIGH G AND HIGH G-ONSET RATES THAT FIGHTERS ARE NOW CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING WILL CONTINUE TO BE A CHALLENGE. PREVIOUS CREW MEMBER SUPPORT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENTS HAVE CONCENTRATED ON PREVENTIVE MEASURES AND SHOULD CONTINUE. HOWEVER, AN OPPORTUNITY NOW EXISTS TO EXPLOIT THE PRESENCE OF ONBOARD COMPUTERS, DATA BUSES AND PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL FLIGHT CONTROLS IN TODAY'S FIGHTERS TO PROVIDE A G-LOC DETECTION, WARNING AND RECOVERY SYSTEM IN THE EVENT THAT PREVENTION FAILS. FOR THE RECOVERY SYSTEM, SPECIAL EFFORT IS REQUIRED TO DEVELOP AN APPROPRIATE COMBAT RECOVERY PROFILE DUE TO THE INHERENT VULNERABILITY OF THE PILOT DURING THE LOC PERIOD. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECTARE TO (1) DEVELOP AND TEST A BRASSBOARD G-LOC DETECTION SYSTEM BASED ON A "VOTING" ALGORITHM FED BY PASSIVE SENSORS AND AIRCRAFT STATE AND TIME HISTORY DATA, AND (2) DEVELOP THE MOST FEASIBLE POST-LOC RECOVERY TRAJECTORY FOR THE AIRCRAFT IN A COMBAT ENVIRONMENT.