Sustained wakefulness within military combat operations has long been an issue directly related to safety and its impact on those who enter battle. Fatigue remains a formidable enemy in theater operations due to its pervasive impact on cognitive effectiveness during flight. Incidents of fatigue-related errors continue to affect the stability and effectiveness of pilots engaged in 24-7 operations: approximately 20% of all Air Force/Air National Guard aviation mishaps have fatigue as either a causal or contributing factor.
History
One solution to the issue of fatigue within sustained operations came when the United States Department of Defense sought to find a way to identify and quantify potential danger zones related to fatigue. In 1996, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research began work on the Sleep Performance Model, in order to perform analysis related to sleep deprivation and its effects on human performance. It led to the development of the SAFTE model – a model which calculates effectiveness based on the human sleep/work cycle. In 2001, the Air Force Research Laboratory, through a Small Business Innovation Research grant, sponsored the development of the Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool, a user interface on the SAFTE model. The outputs rendered through FAST identify time intervals represented through work and sleep durations. FAST was used in safety investigation boards to model mishap pilots; however, usability issues prevented it from widespread adoption for routine operational use. In 2007, the Air National Guard Safety Division, led by Lt ColEdward Vaughan, funded development of a new, Warfighter-centric application based on the WRAIR Sleep Performance Model / SAFTE algorithm. In 2007-08, the Air National Guard and developed the interface in order to provide an application usable at the squadron level. Many ANG Wings participated in development of the initial application, to ensure a product which met end user needs. The FlyAwake interface contains its own individual set of controls particular to each type of aircraft and mission flown by the ANG. In an effort to ease the burden of data entry, the FlyAwake graphical user interface is pre-populated with default data based on aircraft type, relating directly to specified flight duties. Through this method of capture, schedulers and pilots are able to identify familiar controls that are specific to the military’s individualized mode of operations. In addition, an intelligent sleep algorithm is in progress, based on surveys of active duty and ANG units.
Current status
As of FY09, MACROsystems has embarked on v2.0 of the FlyAwake application, partnering with WRAIR and Concurrent Technologies Corporation on behalf of OSD’s Defense Safety Oversight Council. Anticipated launch of the new joint military application is set for mid-2009.
Safety Programs
The FlyAwake application was developed through ANG Safety’s Disruptive Solutions Process ; a process which invests small amounts of resources in many innovative ideas from the field and develops those that show success and return on investment. This process has led to other successful DoD-wide safety programs such as , Maintenance Resource Management, and . DSP’s inventor, Lt. Col. Edward Vaughan, has recently been inducted into the Air Force Safety Hall of Fame for his revolutionary, entrepreneurial approach to safety program management.
