Development of a Mobile, Minaturized, Field Deployable Pupillometer to Assess Fitness for Duty

Currently, a fixed-location (non-mobile) pupillometer for assessing human impairment from fatigue, medications, drugs, and alcohol-PMI's FIT technology-- has proven both scientifically valid and commercially viable. Based on military interest in a portableinstrument, this program proposes to build and field-test a mobile pupillometer. Grounded in design work conducted under a Phase I SBIR and early prototyping done via other medical technology funding, the program will develop and field test a portablepupillometer that allows effective assessment of human impairment in a mobile configuration, including under variable ambient light conditions. This project will extend the commercial success of fixed-location FIT technology into applications requiringportability. Some examples:¿ Today, FIT technology is used for pre-shift fitness-for-duty screening at several Philadelphia-area ambulance terminals. A mobile FIT could moved from location to location;¿ FIT technology is used by military researchers, for example, to assess fatigue among Air Force pilots while based in the U.S. A mobile FIT could be placed at foreign bases during overseas operations to assess alertness during real combat operations. Inaddition, a mobile pupillometer can be deployed in field operation locations.¿ Currently, FIT technology is placed at a number of probation centers and drug treatment facilities to screen individuals for possible drug use. A mobile FIT would extend supervisory capabilities by allowing a probation officer to check in at the home of the probationer or to move to various remote probation office locations.