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| | | | | | | | | Pilot's cockpit | |
Advanced life support systems for pilot
6 July 2005
During the day Solar Impulse will fly above the clouds at an altitude of 10 000 metres to capture all available sunlight. This means the pilot's cockpit needs to be pressurised and the latest technology is needed to make it as light as possible.
As the pilot will have to fly in this inhospitable environment for days at a time, clearly the human factor is crucial. Even if the plane is technologically able to fly for several days, withstand turbulences and successfully manage energy, the pilot may fall asleep and lose control. For the venture to success the interface between human and plane is a critical factor.
To deal with this an advanced system to support symbiotic communication between the pilot and the plane is being designed by EPFL. This will monitor all key body variables of the pilot (heart rate, temperature, movement, stress, sleepiness) while supplying the pilot with information on the plane’s structure and energy supply. Alert signals will be activated if the pilot falls asleep or takes the plane beyond structural safety limits.
| | Presentation of Solar Impulse at Le Bourget 2005 | |
Researchers are investigating the possibility of a mobile body-monitoring system, such as a wearable shirt device embedded with sensors and electrodes. Like everything else aboard Solar Impulse, the operation of these sensors, as well as all the data analysis and prediction performed on their output, must be done under tight power consumption and weight constraints. The project poses numerous exciting challenges that will take research to new levels in many domains.
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