Health monitoring system for a vehicle

• US 9,102,417 B1
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Young, Donald R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Vernal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fan, Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US12/965,527
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 340/945, 340/963, 128/204.23, 701/11, 701/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/22 Motor vehicles operators, e.g. drivers, pilots, captains
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0252 using ambient temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0257 using atmospheric pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0031 means for overriding or restricting access to flight controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0056 detecting passenger or crew behavior by sensors, e.g. biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

Method and apparatus for monitoring a vehicle. An apparatus comprises a sensor system and a computer system. The sensor system is associated with a number of human operators of a vehicle and a number of components in the vehicle. The sensor system is configured to generate physiological data for the number of human operators. The computer system is configured to receive the physiological data; determine whether the physiological data is within a level for a desired level of performance for operating the vehicle based on a policy; and perform a number of actions to maintain the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the physiological data not being within the level for the desired level of performance.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first sensor system configured to be associated with a number of human operators of a vehicle, configured to generate physiological data for the number of human operators, and configured to generate environment data for the environment around the number of human operators in the vehicle corresponding to a number of physiological data, the first sensor system including at least an oximeter positioned in a headset of at least one human operator;

a second sensor system configured to be associated with a number of components in the vehicle and configured to generate data about the number of components in the vehicle, the number of components comprising a number of structures and a number of systems, the first sensor system different from the second sensor system; and

a computer system in communications with the sensor system, the computer system;

configured to receive the physiological data from the first sensor system;

configured to receive data about the number of components for the vehicle from the second sensor system;

configured to determine whether first physiological data for a first human operator meets a threshold for operating the vehicle based on a policy, the policy based on a specific profile for the first human operator and the specific profile selected from a number of profiles in which each profile in the number of profiles corresponds to a particular human operator in the number of human operators;

configured to perform a first number of actions to maintain a desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the first physiological data not meeting the threshold, the first number of actions including at least providing oxygen to at least a first human operator;

configured to determine whether second physiological data for the first human operator meets the threshold for operating the vehicle based on the policy after the first number of actions has been performed; and

configured to perform a second number of actions if the second physiological data is not within the desired level after the first number of actions, the second number of actions including at least generating an alert to a second human operator;

wherein the first physiological data indicates that health of the first human operator is moving in a direction that will make the first human operator unable to perform with the desired level of performance.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second sensor system gathers data regarding at least a temperature and a pressure associated with the vehicle, and the first sensor system is

configured to determine whether the physiological data and the data about the number of components for the vehicle indicate that the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle cannot be maintained by the number of human operators;

and

configured to perform the number of actions to maintain the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the determination that the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle cannot be maintained by the number of operators.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

an oxygen system configured to deliver oxygen to the number of human operators of the vehicle;

wherein a first data about the number of physiological data comprises a level of the oxygen in the blood for at least one of the number of human operators; and

wherein in being configured to perform the number of actions when the number of physiological data is not within the level for the desired level of performance to operate the vehicle in a desired manner, the computer system is configured to control the oxygen system to deliver the oxygen to at least each of the number of human operators in which the number of physiological data is not within the level for the desired level of performance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of actions comprises at least one of:

changing control of the vehicle to an autopilot system,

changing the control of the vehicle to a remote location,

generating an alert, and

controlling an oxygen system to deliver the oxygen to the number of human operators.

5. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the policy includes a number of profiles in which each profile in the number of profiles corresponds to a particular human operator in the number of human operators;

and

wherein in being configured to determine whether the physiological data is within the level for the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle based on the policy, the computer system is configured to determine whether the physiological data is within the level for the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle based on the policy in which the level for a selected user is identified from the profile for the selected user in the policy.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor system comprises a carbon monoxide sensor and a number of sensors selected from at least one of a pulse oximeter, a nasal septum probe, a carbon dioxide sensor, and a thermometer.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the physiological data comprises an oxygen level and a pulse rate.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the vehicle.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the vehicle is selected from one of a submarine, a personnel carrier, a tank, a train, an automobile, a bus, a spacecraft, and a surface ship.

10. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second sensor system is configured to determine a position for the number of components.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second sensor system further determines a load on a component and a response by a component to a command.

12. The apparatus of claim 5,

wherein each human operator has a profile that corresponds to the human operator;

wherein a threshold level for an oxygen level for each human operator of the number of human operators may be set based on each human operator that identify a particular oxygen level needed for each human operator to perform various operations; and

wherein the oxygen level may be different for different operations that are to be performed by a same human operator.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a pressurized aircraft.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a sensor of the sensor system is integrated into a headset worn by a human operator of the number of human operators.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the oxygen system is configured to deploy an oxygen mask before a human operator of the number of human operators is incapable of using the oxygen mask to increase the oxygen level.

16. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein when the physiological data of a first human operator of the number of human operators does not meet the level for the desired level of performance, the computer system is configured to determine whether a second human operator of the number of human operators can operate the vehicle at the desired level of performance is present in the vehicle;

wherein when the second human operator is determined to be present, the computer system is configured to take no action and allow the second human operator to control the vehicle.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to record the physiological data in a flight recorder.

18. A health monitoring system for an aircraft, the system comprising:

a first sensor system associated with a number of human operators of the aircraft, wherein the first sensor system is configured to generate physiological data for the number of human operators and data for an environment in which the number of human operators are present, the data for the environment including at least carbon monoxide, and the first sensor system including at least an oximeter positioned in a headset of at least one human operator;

a second sensor system associated with a number of components in the aircraft and configured to generate data for the number of components, the data including at least a temperature and a pressure associated with the number of components, the number of components comprising a number of structures and a number of systems, the first sensor system different from the second sensor system; and

a computer system connected to the first sensor system and the second sensor system, wherein the computer system is configured to

receive the physiological data, the data from the environment, and the data from the number of components;

determine whether first physiological data of a first human operator in the number of human operators meets a threshold for operating the aircraft based on a profile for the human operator in a number of profiles in which each profile in the number of profiles corresponds to a particular human operator in the number of human operators, the number of profiles at least oxygen level and heart rate for the number of human operators;

perform a number of actions to maintain a desired level of performance for operating the aircraft in response to the first physiological data not meeting the threshold, the first number of actions including at least providing oxygen to at least the first human operator;

determine whether second physiological data for the first human operator meets the threshold for operating the vehicle based on the policy after the first number of actions has been performed; and

perform a second number of actions if the second physiological data is not within the desired level after the first number of actions, the second number of actions including at least generating an alert to a second human operator;

wherein the first physiological data indicates that health of the first human operator is moving in a direction that will make the first human operator unable to perform with the desired level of performance.

19. The health monitoring system of claim 18, wherein the first sensor system comprises a number of sensors selected from at least one of a pulse oximeter, a nasal septum probe, a carbon dioxide sensor, and a thermometer.

20. A method for monitoring a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, physiological data and data about an environment from a first sensor system associated with a number of human operators of the vehicle and the environment in which the number of human operators are positioned, the first sensor system including at least an oximeter positioned in a headset of at least one human operator, wherein the physiological data includes a number of physiological data for the number of human operators including at least an oxygen level and the data from the environment includes at least a carbon monoxide level;

receiving at the computer system data about a number of components in the vehicle, the data about the number of components including temperature, pressure, and position data, the number of components comprising a number of structures and a number of systems, the first sensor system different from the second sensor system;

determining, by the computer system, whether first physiological data meets a threshold for operating the vehicle based on a policy, the policy based on a specific profile for a first human operator;

performing, by the computer system, a first number of actions to maintain a desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the first physiological data not meeting the threshold, the first number of actions including at least providing oxygen to at least the first human operator;

determining, by the computer system, whether second physiological data for the first human operator meets the threshold for operating the vehicle based on the policy after the first number of actions has been performed; and

performing, by the computer system, a second number of actions if the second physiological data is not within the desired level after the first number of actions, the second number of actions including at least generating an alert to a second human operator;

wherein the first physiological data indicates that health of the first human operator is moving in a direction that will make the first human operator unable to perform with the desired level of performance.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

determining, by the computer system, whether the physiological data and the data about the number of components for the vehicle indicate that the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle cannot be maintained by the number of human operators; and

performing the number of actions to maintain the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the determination that the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle cannot be maintained by the number of operators;

wherein performing, by the computer system, the number of actions to maintain the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle in response to the number of physiological data not being within the level for the desired level of performance comprises;

controlling an oxygen system in the vehicle to deliver oxygen to at least each of the number of human operators in which the number of physiological data is not within the level for the desired level of performance;

wherein the number of actions comprises at least one of changing control of the vehicle to an autopilot, changing the control of the vehicle to a remote location, generating an alert, and controlling an oxygen system to deliver oxygen to the number of human operators;

wherein the policy includes a number of profiles in which each profile in the number of profiles corresponds to a particular human operator in the number of human operators and wherein determining whether the physiological data is within the level for the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle based on the policy comprises;

determining whether the physiological data is within the level for the desired level of performance for operating the vehicle based on the policy in which the level for a selected human operator in the number of human operators is identified from the profile for the selected human operator in the policy;

wherein the sensor system comprises a number of sensors selected from at least one of a pulse oximeter, a nasal septum probe, a carbon dioxide sensor, and a thermometer;

wherein the physiological data comprises an oxygen level and a pulse rate; and

wherein the vehicle is selected from one of a submarine, a personnel carrier, a tank, a train, an automobile, a bus, a spacecraft, and a surface ship.