Pilot Condition To Be Monitored

In the future, pilots may wear wristbands that will be able to detect signs of fatigue, stress or other dangerous conditions and send a signal to a monitoring center. That's the goal of an Australian project aimed at reducing the number of fatigue- and stress-related accidents in airplanes and heavy transport trucks. Over the next three years, the Forge Groupe and the University of Technology will develop and test sensors that will enable real-time monitoring of the alertness, stress level and decision-making ability of pilots and drivers. "This information will allow feedback on a dangerous situation and alert either the operator or the system controller to make it safer," said project spokesman Sara Lal. The sensors will also measure the pilot's environment, looking for things like temperature and noise. The information will be used to create algorithms and computations to detect changes in operator performance.