Ken Moon, Operations, Information and Decisions, The Wharton School; Xufei Liu, PhD Candidate, The Wharton School; Gad Allon, Operations, Information and Decisions, The Wharton School
Abstract: For military aviators, functioning without fail within a high-stress work environment is a necessity. In order to complete critical missions, they make split-second decisions while piloting 44,000 lbs of hurtling machinery accelerating at up to 9G’s in high-altitude conditions. For less experienced pilots, managing the associated physical and mental fatigue is an integral and challenging component of executing flights safely and well. We collaborate with a pioneering company that innovatively outfits aviators at 22 USAF bases with wearable sensors that record both the physical stresses of sorties (flights) and the biophysical states and reactions of pilots in real time. Then, we develop analytical methods to make timely and accurate use of such novel wearable sensor data to benefit and safeguard pilots, creating a data-driven solution to identify critical intervention points based on highly complex data on dynamic human performance.