EEG technology research on PEs

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Navy Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) is host to scientific research using new technology that may potentially become an early-warning signal to military pilots experiencing in-flight physiologic events (PE) such as hypoxia. Hypoxia is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching tissues in the body that can result in oxygen deprivation causing confusion and rapid heart rates. Navy pilots in the T-45C trainer and F/A-18 Super Hornets have reported PE episodes as a result of oxygen deprivation. NAMI's latest project is one of several efforts to assist in the mitigation PEs. Capt. G. Merrill Rice, senior medical officer at Naval Aviation Schools Command, who coordinates NAMI research, is working with new Electroencephalogram (EEG) technology for use in hypoxia detection. He began the project in September, partnering with a team from the University of West Florida, Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), and Naval Aerospace Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. The collaboration has put forth a protocol to evaluate newer EEG technologies to see if “we can monitor the pilot's brainwaves while in extreme environments," said Rice. NAMI is a Pensacola-based detachment of the Navy Medicine Operational Training Center (NMOTC). (Source: NMOTC 11/30/17) Central Mississippi Note: T-45C pilots that have experienced PEs include Naval Air Stations Meridian, Miss.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Pensacola.