Physiologically Assessed Ratings of Aircraft Operation and Handling (PHARAOH)

The Navy relies on handling quality ratings (HQRs) for evaluation of its aircraft to ensure that it can maintain, train, and equip combat-ready forces. The aviator’s perspective is vital for assessing aircraft handling, but can be difficult to obtain from Pilots without distracting them or relying on their memory. Pilot physiological state fluctuates with the amount of workload required to handle the aircraft, making it possible to obtain quantitative measurements of the Pilots’ experience through physiological sensors. This insight can significantly increase efficacy and efficiency of flight testing, especially when combined with traditional instrumentation, recording, and transmission of aircraft Time-Space-Position-Information during flight and aerobatic maneuvers. To meet this requirement, Charles River Analytics proposes to design and demonstrate the feasibility of a platform for Physiologically Assessed Ratings of Aircraft Operation and Handling (PHARAOH). The PHARAOH effort includes: (1) a flight-compatible sensor suite for measuring Pilot physiology; (2) machine learning algorithms to process, fuse, and interpret physiological data for accurate HQR assessment during flight testing; (3) a UI designed to meet the needs of Flight Test Teams by providing HQRs of aircraft along with the supporting data; and (4) pursuit of suitable transition and commercialization opportunities for PHARAOH technologies.