fORE: fNIRS Operational Readiness Estimation

Thestate of warfighters (whether theyarefatigued, distracted,and/or stressed)and of theteam (whether theyare workingtogethereffectivelyand cohesively)greatly impact thelikelihood ofmission success. The brain isan excellent source of data with which to assess individualand team states. Unfortunately,current technologiescannot supportcontinuous neural statemonitoring of warfightersacross themany differentenvironments in which they workand train. Together, Aptimaand partners proposeto develop thefNIRS Operational Readiness Estimation (fORE) technology suite. ThefORE solution consists of three components: (1)acustom fNIRS sensor device; (2)a data processingand analytics suite;and (3)a user interface(UI) that presentsassessments ofvarious physiologicaland psychological states such as readiness, attentiveness,workload,and fatigue. ThefORE fNIRS deviceshall berugged, portable,miniaturized,and capable of integration with existingequipment. The data processingand analytics suite willallow for conversion of raw fNIRS signals into estimates of individualand team functional states. ThefORE UI willallow for distributed and real-timeassessment of readiness or other physiological or psychological states. fOREwillallow for unobtrusive neurobiologicalassessment in dynamicenvironments,which is impossible with current neurobiological offerings.