The US Air Force has completed flight tests of a physiological monitoring system for pilots in California and Nevada.
The Integrated Cockpit Sensing (ICS) is a data acquisition platform that fuses multiple pilot-worn sensors to read the physical conditions of combat jet operators in the air.
Developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the capability measures respiration, brain and heart rate, skin temperature, and other physiological markers.
Alongside preventing stress, cabin depressurization, and hypoxia, the technology is designed to provide more information on a pilot’s state at different phases of flight and how they respond to tasks.
During the demonstrations, US Air Force Test Pilot School students and engineers trialed the ICS aboard an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Edwards AFB.
Another group from the 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron used a similar jet and completed the activity at Nellis AFB.
The agency wrote that one scenario required testers to swap an oxygen mask with a faulty inhalation valve to increase breathing resistance.
Another scenario involved temporary disconnection of the main pilot’s oxygen supply while the co-pilot maneuvered.
The Integrated Cockpit Sensing
AFRL initially filtered commercial sensors for the ICS in 2019.
The team then worked with BAE Systems and other defense contractors in developing the monitoring system’s hardware and software, improving the device’s data access prior to real-life evaluations and modifying its design for pilots’ convenience.
In 2023, the US Air Force F-16 System Program Office approved the ICS for military release. AFRL’s technical and safety review boards approved flight tests of the device the same year.
“We needed the ability to really investigate and then interrogate it on the back end to understand how we can improve safety for pilots as well as enhance mission effectiveness,” ICS Lead Engineer Chris Dooley remarked during the latest flight tests.
“Our team’s work is about ensuring the cockpit environment they’re operating in is safe so pilots can complete the mission and come home safely. There’s a lot of possibility with this system. ICS produces a very rich data set that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.”
Supporting Proactive Pilot Monitoring
The air force said that the ICS program aligns with the recommendations set by the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety in 2020, which highlighted the proactive monitoring of aircrew physiology.
“This recommendation was borne out of a rash of fatal mishaps where pilots likely lost consciousness while flying, possibly due to oxygen starvation,” 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Robert Russell said.
“There are a lot of qualifiers like ‘likely’ and ‘possibly’ because while we collect millions of data points on the airplanes we fly, we monitor and collect zero data on pilots.”