Fighter pilots face unique occupational stressors, including intense gravitational forces, long and stressful missions, and ejections out of aircraft. The physical and mental demands can take their toll, as evidenced by the numerous health issues such as neck and back problems that have dogged the fighter pilot population for years. Such physical and physiological stressors combine to exacerbate pilot stress and fatigue. To address the effects of stress and fatigue, Design Interactive Inc. (DI) created SHARP-ST (the Sleep Homeostasis Acuity Readiness Program with Stress Tracking), a wearable, mobile technology ecosystem designed to provide actionable, individualized information to optimize mental acuity and reduce stress and fatigue. Combining stress and fatigue measures allows for a more holistic, individualized approach to pilot wellness, breaking the feedback cycle in which chronic stress predisposes individuals to insomnia and fatigue and leads to greater stress responses. In Phase I, the stress tracking capabilities of SHARP-ST were integrated into AFRLs Battlefield Assisted Trauma Distributed Observation Kit (BATDOK) to afford use across USAF and SOF. In Phase II, the full SHARP-ST system will be integrated into the SPEAR® ecosystem, a platform that hosts a large variety of human performance data, including biosensing data from wearable sensors, and allows for the use a single enterprise platform or nexus of human performance data within all domains (physical, mental, tactical, functional, clinical, behavioral, nutritional, intangible, skill, psychological, social, spiritual, risk/exposure, and injury). During Phase II, the SHARP-ST system will be adapted to meet the needs of fighter pilots, their providers, and commanders at the 56th Training Squadron at Luke Air Force Base. This will be accomplished by integrating stress and fatigue measures; providing iOS and Android applications to pilots, providers, and commanders; incorporating SHARP-ST into SPEAR®; powering SHARP-ST with the flight approved and deployed Garmin fÄ?nix 5 watch; and testing with a fighter pilot population.
