BACKGROUND ON THE PROBLEM
Exoskeletons are coming to future battlefields, but we don’t yet
know what to do with all of the data they’ll collect. So the Army
Applications Laboratory (AAL) is looking for creative solutions
to develop a system that interprets and delivers exoskeleton
sensor data into an open-architecture handheld radio device.
This system should perform computations that incorporate
sensor fusion with data processing, insight, and aggregation. It
must have the ability to:
• Visualize real-time monitoring of biological, human
performance, and safety statuses
• Provide actionable insights on movements, health, and
location to individual Soldiers (e.g., sensors separately
monitoring a Soldier’s heart rate, oxygen levels, and
coordinates might warn them they are gaining elevation at
an unsustainable rate)
• Aggregate data from multiple Soldiers’ movement, health,
and location to provide a dashboard of insights to leaders
• Interpret data regardless of sensor type (sensor agnostic)
HOW IT WORKS
For this topic, companies can apply for either a Phase 1 award
or a Direct to Phase 2 Award. The Phase I award option provides
up to $150,000 and a 3-month effort in which to deliver a proof
of concept solution, while the Direct to Phase 2 option provides
up to $1 million and a 12-month period of performance to deliver
a prototype system.
Companies selected for a Direct to Phase 2 award can take
advantage of the SBIR enhancement program. If you bring
$500,000 in non-SBIR funds, the SBIR program will match them,
leading to a total contract value of $2 million.
A SPARTN PROBLEM POWERED BY SBIR AND AAL
exoskeleton sensor data
fusion and insight system
exosense
DETAILS ON THE OPPORTUNITY
We’re looking for applications across a range of areas and
expertise. If you work on sensor fusion, human performance, AI
and machine learning, data science, or Android development, you
probably have an idea or technology that we can use.
Ultimately, this project will try to integrate data from a variety
of sensor types into a single solution. Here are some examples
of the types of sensors (and related data) we use:
• Electro (ECG, EMG, EEG, EOG, EKG)
• Motion (Encoders, IMU)
• Position (GPS)
• Temperature (Thermometers)
• Imaging (Cameras, LiDAR
WHAT IS AN AREA CHALLENGE?
“The Army isn’t exactly sure what
we want, but we know that we need
something in this area.”
AN OPEN APPROACH
Supports up to eight businesses that are each tasked
to develop technology to solve a wide-ranging problem
Direct interactions with Army stakeholders and end
users (Soldiers) help better shape the solution
Can invest across different technology levels, and both
Phase I and Direct to Phase II awards are possible
