Biometric Restraint Locking for Pilot Incapacitation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pilots in aircraft may experience extreme forces leading to loss of consciousness and motor control, resulting in potential injuries during aircraft maneuvers, necessitating a solution to safely restrain the occupant in a vehicle.
Innovation Solution
A biomedically actuated occupant restraint system that includes a monitoring system with physiological sensors to detect incapacitation, locking the restraint system to prevent further movement when the pilot loses consciousness or motor control, and unlocking it when the pilot regains consciousness, using a combination of sensors like EEG, ECG, blood pressure, oxygen, and respiration sensors, and a controller to manage the restraint device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the restraint system remains locked during incapacitation, then the occupant is protected from injury, but the occupant cannot manually release or adjust the restraint
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors physiological parameters and self-actuates the restraint locking mechanism based on detected incapacitation, eliminating the need for manual operation when the occupant is unconscious or incapacitated
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors physiological feedback from sensors and adjusts the restraint system state accordingly, creating a closed-loop control that responds to occupant condition changes
2Reliability
If the restraint system is automatically locked based on physiological monitoring, then injury prevention is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The physiological monitoring system serves multiple functions: detecting incapacitation, triggering restraint locking, and potentially other safety functions, consolidating what could be separate systems into one multi-functional unit
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the monitoring system, controller, and restraint actuation mechanism into an integrated system where the controller receives sensor inputs and automatically controls the restraint, merging detection and actuation functions
3Reliability
If the restraint system locks during incapacitation, then occupant safety is improved, but the response time to detect incapacity may be delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors physiological parameters without interruption, ensuring that incapacitation is detected as soon as it occurs rather than on a periodic basis, reducing detection time
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes baseline physiological values during normal operation and is prepared to immediately detect deviations indicating incapacitation, reducing the time from event occurrence to system response
Data Source
AI summary
According to various embodiments, a biomedically actuated occupant restraint system includes an occupant restraint system for a vehicle, the occupant restraint system having a locked position and an unlocked position. The biomedically actuated occupant restraint system further includes an occupant monitoring system operably connected to the occupant restraint system, the occupant monitoring system configured for monitoring a plurality of physiological conditions of an occupant of the vehicle. The occupant monitoring system includes a biometric sensor module including a plurality of physiological sensors configured for measuring a plurality of physiological conditions of the occupant and asserting a plurality of sensor signals, and a controller configured to receive the plurality of sensor signals and determine whether the occupant is incapacitated. The controller being configured to send a command to lock the occupant restraint system in response to determining the occupant is incapacitated.