Using intelligent systems to enhance troops' operational effectiveness

News

July 25, 2018

Lisa Daigle

Assistant Managing Editor

Military Embedded Systems

Using intelligent systems to enhance troops' operational effectiveness — Paratroopers on a 17-hour flight trying to get some pre-jump rest on the aircraft. Fatigue has a direct bearing on readiness, an Army researcher said. (Image source: U.S. Department of Defense/Charles River Analytics.)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Charles River Analytics is leading a team that aims to build a toolkit for the U.S. Army to help analyze fatigue and other stressors that can negatively affect mission outcomes.

The Dynamic Representation for Evaluating the Effect of Moderators and Stress on Performance (DREEMS) effort -- which includes Professor Frank Ritter of Pennsylvania State University; Professor Christopher Dancy of Bucknell University; and Dr. Victor Middleton, who has worked with the U.S. Army on soldier system issues for more than 30 years -- is working toward better understanding the effect of fatigue on small soldier unit survivability and operational effectiveness.

“The growing complexity of modern warfare requires new ways to maintain soldier alertness and health on the battlefield,” explained Dr. Peter Weyhrauch, vice president, Charles River Human Effectiveness Division. “The military is now looking to our DREEMS toolkit to help ensure that troops remain alert by deeply understanding the causes of fatigue and its effect on both cognitive and physical performance.”

The Charles River team's work is based upon work supported by the U.S. Army Command Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division.