WEBVTT 00:00.148 --> 00:03.606 - [Man] Three, two, one, two, over 00:03.606 --> 00:06.273 (radio chatter) 00:17.360 --> 00:20.873 - UPE stands for Unexplained Physiological Event. 00:22.040 --> 00:24.360 We're trying to investigate what causes these things. 00:24.360 --> 00:28.160 In some cases a UPE will immediately become obvious to us 00:28.160 --> 00:29.490 what happened and we're able 00:29.490 --> 00:32.370 to identify it as a known physiological event. 00:32.370 --> 00:34.480 In other cases, pilots will experience symptoms, 00:34.480 --> 00:35.880 come down, land, report them. 00:35.880 --> 00:37.870 And we don't know exactly what the cause is, 00:37.870 --> 00:40.410 and those are the UPE's we start investigating. 00:40.410 --> 00:44.110 And so that's a fascinating area of research 00:44.110 --> 00:47.050 that's happening out at the 711th Human Performance Wing. 00:47.050 --> 00:49.010 So they're doing some fantastic work 00:49.010 --> 00:51.730 (radio chatter) 00:51.730 --> 00:54.800 - We at Airforat in the 711th Human Performance Wing 00:54.800 --> 00:57.682 are trying to pull together our research expertise 00:57.682 --> 01:02.226 to address many different issues relevant to UPE's. 01:02.226 --> 01:04.930 (somber piano music) 01:04.930 --> 01:09.030 - There was a lack of ability to sense air quality 01:09.030 --> 01:11.550 in real time during flight. 01:11.550 --> 01:15.690 So we kind of used that as the impetus to build a real time 01:15.690 --> 01:17.040 air quality sensor. 01:17.040 --> 01:19.210 This project in particular, 01:19.210 --> 01:22.220 is addressing the contamination issue. 01:22.220 --> 01:24.210 There really isn't anything out there 01:24.210 --> 01:26.320 that's able to do that right now 01:26.320 --> 01:30.140 in the aircraft, fully integrated in real time. 01:30.140 --> 01:32.460 However, this is just one issue 01:32.460 --> 01:34.500 that might be causing the UPE's. 01:34.500 --> 01:38.210 The 711th and other organizations are working together 01:38.210 --> 01:40.330 to address other issues 01:40.330 --> 01:43.593 that might also be contributing factors. 01:47.160 --> 01:49.330 - The on board oxygen generating system, 01:49.330 --> 01:53.040 is an aircraft system that produces breathing oxygen 01:53.040 --> 01:55.928 for the pilot to prevent hypoxia. 01:55.928 --> 01:59.866 Basically, the air coming off the engines of the aircraft 01:59.866 --> 02:02.370 is delivered to the environmental control system 02:02.370 --> 02:04.609 of the aircraft and then that air is delivered 02:04.609 --> 02:07.950 to the on board oxygen generating system where a molecular 02:07.950 --> 02:11.017 sieve material removes the nitrogen from the air, 02:11.017 --> 02:15.040 concentrates the oxygen and then that oxygen is delivered 02:15.040 --> 02:18.413 to an aircrew regulator and into the pilot. 02:22.150 --> 02:23.570 - Is there chemical contamination in 02:23.570 --> 02:24.620 the pilot breathing air? 02:24.620 --> 02:28.540 We have as air quality assessment lab 02:28.540 --> 02:30.900 quite a few pieces of equipment that we can use 02:30.900 --> 02:32.170 to measure air quality. 02:32.170 --> 02:37.170 And the tricks to doing that type of assessment in the pilot 02:37.380 --> 02:41.990 breathing air environment was to take all of that equipment 02:41.990 --> 02:46.400 and those methods, and package them into a system that can 02:46.400 --> 02:49.070 fit on the lap of an operator in the cockpit. 02:49.070 --> 02:52.720 Connect to the pilot breathing air, mimic a pilot breathing 02:52.720 --> 02:53.853 on the OBOGs. 02:56.970 --> 02:59.470 - The Air Force Research Lab kicked off this project 02:59.470 --> 03:03.330 to integrate basic vital signs monitoring technology into 03:03.330 --> 03:06.460 an undershirt form factor that's comfortable, lightweight, 03:06.460 --> 03:08.300 easy to wear and durable. 03:08.300 --> 03:12.150 That sensor shirt provides some key physiological data about 03:12.150 --> 03:13.190 the state of the pilot. 03:13.190 --> 03:15.600 This gives us a pretty good picture on what's going on 03:15.600 --> 03:16.970 with the state of the pilot. 03:16.970 --> 03:19.030 Are they getting enough oxygen? 03:19.030 --> 03:20.400 Are they breathing normally? 03:20.400 --> 03:23.560 Are their hearts and their lungs functioning normally 03:23.560 --> 03:26.393 to allow them to fly the aircraft safely? 03:29.380 --> 03:30.730 - So the importance of this 03:30.730 --> 03:32.550 exhaled graph kit technology 03:32.550 --> 03:37.150 is to help the experts determine if contamination 03:37.150 --> 03:40.920 is or is not present for the physiological episode. 03:40.920 --> 03:43.240 With fighter aircraft, there really aren't many sensors 03:43.240 --> 03:44.440 looking at the pilot. 03:44.440 --> 03:46.890 For example, there isn't a sensor looking necessarily 03:46.890 --> 03:49.190 at exhaled breath during flight. 03:49.190 --> 03:50.810 So that kind of raises the importance 03:50.810 --> 03:53.550 of having exhaled breath kit technology 03:53.550 --> 03:55.290 to assess whether or not, 03:55.290 --> 03:57.673 that pilot was exposed during a sortie. 03:59.130 --> 04:02.700 - The 711th is uniquely focused to be able 04:02.700 --> 04:04.996 to tackle these type of issues. 04:04.996 --> 04:07.400 Another additional advantage that we have 04:07.400 --> 04:09.110 is that we are co-located with our colleagues 04:09.110 --> 04:11.340 NAMRU-D just across the street. 04:11.340 --> 04:13.700 That facilitates us to be able to communicate 04:13.700 --> 04:17.730 and work together collaboratively to address these issues. 04:17.730 --> 04:19.840 Trying to break down some of those stove pipes 04:19.840 --> 04:22.940 and take those different teams that are working on these 04:22.940 --> 04:24.830 efforts and combine them together. 04:24.830 --> 04:26.240 By taking the knowledge we learned, 04:26.240 --> 04:28.180 even if we don't get a definitive answer 04:28.180 --> 04:30.180 as to why UPE's occur, 04:30.180 --> 04:32.040 the knowledge we're gaining from this process 04:32.040 --> 04:33.350 is going to be very beneficial. 04:33.350 --> 04:36.150 It's going to allow us to inform MIL standards 04:36.150 --> 04:37.250 as we go forward. 04:37.250 --> 04:39.040 So that we are going to be more capable 04:39.040 --> 04:41.469 in the future with a more advanced aircraft. 04:41.469 --> 04:44.136 (upbeat music)