In current fighter aircrafts, the system monitors each of its components, in order to inform the crew of its status through the cockpit displays and controls. The crew can then take into account degraded system status, and adapt their behaviour to pilot the aircraft. However, the system does not monitor the crew condition nor the crew-system relationship yet. If pioneer systems appear on the market, to detect basic physiological events, such as hypoxia, the monitoring of other conditions needs to mature.

In a fighter cockpit, the Crew Monitoring System (CMS) aims at identifying crew conditions, whether physiological (e.g. hypoxia, G-LOC), cognitive (e.g. mental overload, attentional tunnelling) or emotional conditions (e.g. calmness, confusion, awe, anger...), in order for the system to adapt its interfaces to maintain or increase the mission performance and safety.

This can be achieved by means of multiple physiological sensors. These conditions, together with contextual parameters help getting a clear picture of the global crew functional state, indicating the overall ability of the crew to perform a given mission at a given time. The associated open-innovation calls aims at identifying and maturing algorithmic techniques that estimate the following crew conditions:

Join our open-innovation call focused on advancing non-contact gesture-based control interactions. HMI technologies and interaction modalities are integral components of modern combat aircraft, aiming to enhance pilot situational awareness, mission effectiveness, and overall aircraft performance. We're seeking innovative solutions to provide fighter pilots with efficient, intuitive, and real-time control over their aircraft. By integrating gesture control, we aim to enhance the crew’s capabilities to improve operational efficiency by enabling natural and efficient interactions with the systems. Our focus includes evolving technologies like physical controls, displays, HMD, and projections technologies, including VR/AR-based technologies.

We invite proposals for developing and maturing non-contact gesture-based algorithms and hardware to reliably and efficiently interact with different systems available within a fighter cockpit environment, addressing challenges like adaptability to gloved hands, robustness in high-vibration environments, and physical integration constraints.