Instrumentation for Physiological and Neurobehavioral Measurement in Around-the-Clock, High-Fidelity Laboratory Studies of the Impact of Fatigue on Warfighter Performance

Abstract

Sleep restriction and sleep displacement in military operations result in fatigue and warfighterperformance impairment. Inefficienc"ies, errors, incidents and accidents as a consequence offatigue reduce productivity, add costs, and cause injury and death in both" military operations andcivilian life. Understanding what aspects of critical task performance are sensitive to impairmentdue to fatigue and how to mitigate this impairment is essential to mission success andsustainability of operations. Our group is at the for"efront of elucidating the effects of fatigue oncognitive performance in the laboratory and in operational settings. Intensive, 24/7"" use of ourresearch instrumentation in support of high-yield, DoD-sponsored studies has caused significantwear and tear on the equ""ipment over the years, which is now approaching the end of its usefullife and in need of updating. Moreover, technological advances" driven in part by our researchhave created a need to incorporate new functionality into the laboratory~s integratedmeasurement instrumentation. This proposal seeks to upgrade the equipment in our state-of-theartlaboratory to preserve and enhance quality and productivity in fatigue and performanceresearch relevant to the military. The requested equipment includes computer upgrades for oursleep recording system; skin conductance recording devices to measure physiological responseswhile fatigued; hardware upgrades and a scenario management workstation for our fullimmersionuse-of-force simulators; goggle-mounted eye tracking devices to measure whatwarfighters attend to during operations; and expansion of the secure data storage space. Theupgraded instrumentation will strengt"hen our ongoing efforts in educating undergraduate,graduate and postdoctoral students in fatigue and performance-related research r"elevant to themilitary. The upgraded instrumentation will also enhance current laboratory studies and enablenew research directions aimed at understanding and mitigating the effects of fatigue onwarfighter performance and mission safety and success.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Sep 29, 2017
Source ID
N000141712990

Entities

People

  • Hans Van Dongen

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • Washington State University

Tags

Readers

  • Circadian Sleep-Wake Regulation and Chronobiology
  • Research Science/Academic Research

Technology Areas

  • Space