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Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
November 1, 2007
Pg. 1
Honeywell system tracks brain waves, vital signs
By Max Jarman, Arizona Republic
Imagine a critical wartime mission with lives on the line. There are no outward signs of agitation, but several key soldiers are so stressed that the operation could be in jeopardy.
New technology, being developed by Honeywell International's Phoenix-based aerospace division, could alert the commanding officer, and the troubled fighters could be replaced.
It's mind-reading of the high-tech kind, and Honeywell is in the forefront of the research for the Army.
The Phoenix division is working on technology that monitors soldiers' brain waves and heart rates to identify ones who are stressed-out, information-overloaded and possibly unreliable.
The technology, being developed under a $10 million contract, has other potential applications in military and civilian life. It is being looked at by medics as a tool to quickly identify injured soldiers in the field and perform remote triage. It also could lead to more accurate tests for heart and neurological disorders.
But requiring soldiers to submit themselves to the monitoring raises potential ethics and privacy questions.
"Any technology has good uses and bad uses, depending on how it's used," said Jay Stanley, a privacy expert with the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. "If it becomes a tool of controlling and oppressing rather than helping people, it becomes a civil-liberties issue. . . . People love the gee-whiz factor, but for a lot of them there is a dark side and the potential for an invasion of the privacy and the values Americans expect."
Information on all fronts
By next year, Honeywell and the Army hope to have a version of a monitoring device that can be tested in simulated combat situations.
Military officials are increasingly concerned about the effects of information overload from Internet-based communication systems.
"Soldiers are already under stress from combat conditions, and we're bombarding them with information about enemy positions, weather, mission plans and weapons," said Henry Girolamo, advanced-technology manager for the Army's Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Mass.
The center is responsible for developing soldiers' clothing, equipment and supplies and is overseeing the contract with Honeywell.
"If we can know the cognitive state of the soldier at any given moment, we can tell how much more information they can handle and make decisions." Girolamo added.
Body-mounted sensors
Honeywell has found a way to provide that information through body-mounted sensors that evaluate a soldier's mental and physical state and relay the information wirelessly to commanders.
"Commanders will be able to identify fatigued or overstressed soldiers operating in highly intense combat situations and replace them with others who are more mission ready," said Bob Smith, Honeywell's vice president of advanced technology. Honeywell's system uses body-mounted electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors to monitor cognitive activity in the brain and blood flow in the body.
Such tests are commonplace in medical facilities, but the patient has to lie still to prevent noise interference from invalidating the test.
Honeywell's challenge has been to create a system that works with soldiers on the move and under battlefield conditions.
Through research, Honeywell has been able to take out background noise and home in on the desired brain- and blood-flow signals.
"It's really a breakthrough technology," Girolamo said, adding that it could lead to more accurate medical tests and other applications.
He said he doesn't believe privacy is an issue because of the limited amount of information that is gleaned by the sensors.
"All it's giving is heartbeat and brain-activity information so that we can assess a soldier's cognitive state and determine whether they can handle any more information," he said.
Color-coded feedback
Smith said a soldier's cognitive state ranges from boredom and lack of attention to hyperactivity as a result of overstimulation.
Honeywell is taking information from the sensors and giving color-coded feedback. On one end of the spectrum, an information-overloaded soldier registers red; on the other, an inattentive one registers blue. Green means the subject can assimilate more information. Yellow means the subject is getting overloaded but still could digest more data.
"The goal is to keep people in the middle," Smith said.
Inattentive soldiers could be stimulated by a vibration or other signal and stressed-out ones pulled back toward the center by restricting the information they are required to assimilate.
Last month, Honeywell successfully tested its sensor system, officially called Augmented Cognition, or AugCog, as part of the Future Force Warrior system at an Army event at Fort Dix, N.J.
Future Force Warrior is a military initiative to combine clothing, communications, body armor and weapons in an integrated system for infantrymen.
Company expertise
Honeywell has considerable experience in determining the clearest, most effective way to present information in potentially stressful situations.
It builds cockpit avionics and safety systems for commercial aircraft, and its researchers are keenly aware that poorly presented information can become a distraction or simply be ignored.
"Honeywell has a long history of human-factor evaluation that started with an analysis of pilots and information overload," Smith said.
November 1, 2007
Pg. 1
Honeywell system tracks brain waves, vital signs
By Max Jarman, Arizona Republic
Imagine a critical wartime mission with lives on the line. There are no outward signs of agitation, but several key soldiers are so stressed that the operation could be in jeopardy.
New technology, being developed by Honeywell International's Phoenix-based aerospace division, could alert the commanding officer, and the troubled fighters could be replaced.
It's mind-reading of the high-tech kind, and Honeywell is in the forefront of the research for the Army.
The Phoenix division is working on technology that monitors soldiers' brain waves and heart rates to identify ones who are stressed-out, information-overloaded and possibly unreliable.
The technology, being developed under a $10 million contract, has other potential applications in military and civilian life. It is being looked at by medics as a tool to quickly identify injured soldiers in the field and perform remote triage. It also could lead to more accurate tests for heart and neurological disorders.
But requiring soldiers to submit themselves to the monitoring raises potential ethics and privacy questions.
"Any technology has good uses and bad uses, depending on how it's used," said Jay Stanley, a privacy expert with the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. "If it becomes a tool of controlling and oppressing rather than helping people, it becomes a civil-liberties issue. . . . People love the gee-whiz factor, but for a lot of them there is a dark side and the potential for an invasion of the privacy and the values Americans expect."
Information on all fronts
By next year, Honeywell and the Army hope to have a version of a monitoring device that can be tested in simulated combat situations.
Military officials are increasingly concerned about the effects of information overload from Internet-based communication systems.
"Soldiers are already under stress from combat conditions, and we're bombarding them with information about enemy positions, weather, mission plans and weapons," said Henry Girolamo, advanced-technology manager for the Army's Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Mass.
The center is responsible for developing soldiers' clothing, equipment and supplies and is overseeing the contract with Honeywell.
"If we can know the cognitive state of the soldier at any given moment, we can tell how much more information they can handle and make decisions." Girolamo added.
Body-mounted sensors
Honeywell has found a way to provide that information through body-mounted sensors that evaluate a soldier's mental and physical state and relay the information wirelessly to commanders.
"Commanders will be able to identify fatigued or overstressed soldiers operating in highly intense combat situations and replace them with others who are more mission ready," said Bob Smith, Honeywell's vice president of advanced technology. Honeywell's system uses body-mounted electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors to monitor cognitive activity in the brain and blood flow in the body.
Such tests are commonplace in medical facilities, but the patient has to lie still to prevent noise interference from invalidating the test.
Honeywell's challenge has been to create a system that works with soldiers on the move and under battlefield conditions.
Through research, Honeywell has been able to take out background noise and home in on the desired brain- and blood-flow signals.
"It's really a breakthrough technology," Girolamo said, adding that it could lead to more accurate medical tests and other applications.
He said he doesn't believe privacy is an issue because of the limited amount of information that is gleaned by the sensors.
"All it's giving is heartbeat and brain-activity information so that we can assess a soldier's cognitive state and determine whether they can handle any more information," he said.
Color-coded feedback
Smith said a soldier's cognitive state ranges from boredom and lack of attention to hyperactivity as a result of overstimulation.
Honeywell is taking information from the sensors and giving color-coded feedback. On one end of the spectrum, an information-overloaded soldier registers red; on the other, an inattentive one registers blue. Green means the subject can assimilate more information. Yellow means the subject is getting overloaded but still could digest more data.
"The goal is to keep people in the middle," Smith said.
Inattentive soldiers could be stimulated by a vibration or other signal and stressed-out ones pulled back toward the center by restricting the information they are required to assimilate.
Last month, Honeywell successfully tested its sensor system, officially called Augmented Cognition, or AugCog, as part of the Future Force Warrior system at an Army event at Fort Dix, N.J.
Future Force Warrior is a military initiative to combine clothing, communications, body armor and weapons in an integrated system for infantrymen.
Company expertise
Honeywell has considerable experience in determining the clearest, most effective way to present information in potentially stressful situations.
It builds cockpit avionics and safety systems for commercial aircraft, and its researchers are keenly aware that poorly presented information can become a distraction or simply be ignored.
"Honeywell has a long history of human-factor evaluation that started with an analysis of pilots and information overload," Smith said.
