Wearable Cardiorespiratory Sensors for Aerospace Applications

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Aerospace Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) and avionics require real-time human operator monitoring.
• Neurophysiological data acquisition is crucial for novel task assessment and system adaptation.
• Cardiorespiratory sensors are essential for monitoring operator physiological status.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally verify and characterize the performance of a commercial cardiorespiratory sensor for ATM and avionics.
• To compare the sensor's measurements against clinical-grade equipment.
• To assess performance under both physical and cognitive workload conditions and quantify uncertainty.

Main Methods:

• Experimental verification of a commercial cardiorespiratory sensor against clinical-grade equipment.
• Performance characterization under physical and cognitive workload scenarios.
• Quantification of uncertainty in cognitive state estimation based on cardiorespiratory measurement uncertainty.

Main Results:

• The commercial cardiorespiratory sensor demonstrated basic suitability for aerospace applications.
• Verification against clinical-grade equipment showed acceptable performance.
• Respiratory measurements exhibited relatively poor performance during purely mental activity (cognitive workload).

Conclusions:

• The commercial cardiorespiratory sensor is generally suitable for ATM and avionics applications.
• Further improvements are needed for accurate respiratory monitoring during cognitive tasks.
• Uncertainty quantification is vital for reliable cognitive state estimation in aerospace systems.