CHERRY HILL, N.J., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy is funding research that could lead to a "smarter" Tomahawk cruise missile.
The Office of Naval Research has awarded Lockheed $724,000 out of its Disruptive Technology Fund for evaluations of new user interfaces, based on neuroscience, that will monitor the sharpness not of the missile but the humans operating it.
Lockheed's Advance Technology Lab in New Jersey is working on a system called T-TIDES (TTWCS-Tool for Interface Design Evaluation with Sensors) that will read the human physiological markers and tip off declines in crew effectiveness.
The current research specifically seeks ways to improve the overall design of the TTWCS (Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System) interface that controls the actual shipboard missile launch function.
T-TIDES will look particularly for signs of sleepiness and stress in the sailors who launch Tomahawks from ships and submarines. The research goes to the assumption that even the most-sophisticated weapons systems require human operators who are at the top of their games.
"A human's physiological markers typically depart from norms during high workload, distraction or drowsiness," Lockheed said in a news release. "As a result, performance may decline, reducing overall effectiveness of the interface."
The system relies on instruments that read vital signs such as brain activity, heart rate, pupil dilation and even the level of oxygen in the bloodstream.
T-TIDES is the product of more basic research conducted under the Improving Warfighter Information Intake Under Stress program.
