Real-Time Assessment and Augmentation of Cognitive Performance in Extreme Environments | FA8650 22 S 5006

Opportunity Information: Apply for FA8650 22 S 5006

The Air Force Research Laboratory opportunity titled "Real-Time Assessment and Augmentation of Cognitive Performance in Extreme Environments" (Funding Opportunity Number FA8650 22 S 5006) funds applied research and development aimed at keeping people mentally sharp and functional in harsh, high-stress settings. The core idea is to build wearable technologies that can (1) continuously detect fatigue and stress in real time using a combination of physiological and biochemical signals, and (2) actively reduce or counteract those impairments using wearable, field-appropriate interventions. The program sits in the Science and Technology / R&D category (CFDA 12.800), is open to unrestricted applicants, and is structured as a Cooperative Agreement, meaning the government expects substantial involvement during the project rather than a hands-off grant.

On the monitoring side, the primary technical focus is continuous sensing of fatigue and stress using electrophysiological measurements and biochemical stress biomarkers. The electrophysiological modalities explicitly emphasized are EEG, EMG, and EOG, reflecting interest in brain activity patterns, muscle activity, and eye movement/ocular signals that can correlate with cognitive load, vigilance decline, and fatigue. In parallel, the opportunity calls for measuring biomarkers associated with stress physiology in interstitial fluid (ISF), including examples such as cortisol, DHEA-s, epinephrine, and neuropeptide Y (NPY). This implies development of wearable or minimally invasive chemical sensing approaches capable of sampling and quantifying analytes from ISF continuously or at frequent intervals, with adequate stability and accuracy for operational use.

In addition to those primary modalities, the program encourages integrating other non-chemical and non-electrophysiological indicators to improve the reliability and precision of fatigue/stress determination. Examples listed include heart rate and heart rate variability, blood oxygenation-related metrics such as SpO2 and tissue/cerebral oxygenation measures (StO2, ScO2), respiration, core body temperature, blood pressure, and even facial feature extraction. The intent is straightforward: stress and fatigue are multi-factor phenomena, and sensor fusion across multiple streams can reduce false alarms, handle individual differences, and maintain performance when one signal degrades due to motion, sweat, temperature extremes, or other environmental interference. Taken together, applicants are effectively being asked to create robust, wearable multimodal sensing systems plus algorithms that translate raw data into actionable assessments of fatigue and stress, continuously and in real time.

The secondary focus moves beyond measuring the problem to mitigating it through wearable augmentation technologies designed for austere environments. The solicitation highlights countermeasures that could be implemented noninvasively and in the field, citing examples such as noninvasive vagal nerve stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and appropriate chemical stimulants. The key expectation is not just that these interventions exist, but that they are engineered into wearable, operationally suitable systems and paired with the monitoring capability so that mitigation can be timely, targeted, and practical under extreme conditions. In other words, the program is oriented toward closed-loop or decision-support approaches where sensing informs when and how to intervene, while also accounting for real-world constraints like limited power, environmental exposure, user comfort, and the realities of prolonged wear.

A major program requirement is technology maturity: by the end of the effort, the resulting technologies should reach at least Technology Readiness Level 5. In practical terms, TRL 5 generally means the technology has been validated in a relevant environment, beyond lab-only demonstrations, with prototypes that show credible performance under conditions that resemble the intended operational setting. For a wearable system aimed at extreme environments, this typically implies attention to ruggedization, repeatability, usability, and performance stability across temperature, humidity, motion, and other stressors, as well as credible validation that the sensing outputs correlate with fatigue/stress states and that augmentation methods provide measurable benefits.

Funding and cost share are central to this opportunity. The Award Ceiling is $23,000,000, and the solicitation requires a strict 50/50 cost share under the Cooperative Agreement. That means the recipient must provide an additional $23,000,000 as matching funds or allowable cost share, for a total project value of $46,000,000. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, but the cost share magnitude effectively means applicants need substantial internal resources or strong partnerships to meet the matching requirement. The posting indicates an original closing date of 2022-02-28 and a creation date of 2022-01-21, framing it as a specific, time-bounded competition from that period.

In summary, this AFRL program targets integrated wearable solutions that can (a) continuously detect and quantify fatigue and stress using a combination of electrophysiology (EEG/EMG/EOG) and ISF-based biochemical biomarkers, (b) optionally fuse in additional physiological and behavioral metrics like HR/HRV, oxygenation, respiration, temperature, blood pressure, and facial features to improve accuracy, and (c) deploy wearable countermeasures such as noninvasive neurostimulation, tDCS, or stimulants to sustain cognitive performance. The expected outcome is a comparatively mature, field-relevant prototype capability (at least TRL 5) backed by substantial co-investment from the awardee due to the 50/50 cost-share structure.

• The Air Force -- Research Lab in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Real-Time Assessment and Augmentation of Cognitive Performance in Extreme Environments" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.800.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-01-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-02-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $23,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for FA8650 22 S 5006

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