NOVAlert Watch Strap Driver Alertness Sustainer

Votes: 9
Views: 4201

* NOVAlert/DAS is a Driver Alertness Sustainer built into a modified watch strap.

* NOVAlert was developed to reduce road accidents due to fatigue, drowsiness and inattention and validated in Canadian and Israel sleep labs as well as on Sweden roads.

* A driver may not be aware of how close s/he is to unintentionally falling asleep at the wheel, with dire consequences to all vehicle occupants, cargo, and on-coming traffic.

* Unlike cameras looking at the eyes and the road, NOVAlert employs the earliest and most direct measure of impending sleepiness: The brain activity. However, the scientific breakthrough was to validate that there is a close correlation between the tactile activity of the hands and brain waves. It was successfully validated in published sleep lab tests as well as on simulators- and on the road.

* It is an important benefit for the driver to avoid fatigue, drowsiness and inattention-related road accidents. NOVAlert provides an advanced warning of impending driving performance decrement due to fatigue and drowsiness, and the tactile feedback it issues was validated to enhance alertness and sustain the driver performance so a safe stop can be reached.

* NOVAlert is novel in its approach of monitoring the brain processes through neuromuscular activity of the grip. It is a significant improvement on what is currently available in the marketplace- lane tracking cameras. The safety margin of a direct physiological measure is much greater than the sensing of the consequence of drowsiness- a car on its way to veer off-the-road. With the advent of smart watches and smart phones, the wireless Bluetooth device can fits in a watch strap and its alerting signals can not only alert the driver, but also transmitted to a family member or employer to help sustain the driver's performance until the earliest next safe stop.

* The market potential ranges from new drivers to elderly drivers and long haul drivers, train operators, pilots, even critical mission screen operators, guards- anyone whose unscheduled sleep can have catastrophic outcome.

* NOVAlert works by monitoring the brain- grip muscles neural communications. Using dry skin contacts, the minute microvolt-level signals are analyzed against an individualized baseline taken at the start of the task. If the continuous analysis suspects a performance decrement, it issues a vibrotactile signal in the form of a psychomotor vigilance test. This in itself is a sustaining benefit as the brain shifts from possible stage 1 (Sleep onset, in our case its very first beginning) to stage 0 (Alertness), stopping the person to progress to stage 2- true light sleep.

* Product prototypes were manufactured by standard surface mount facilities.

* The production cost compared with purchasing and mounting cameras and computers already in the marketplace is incredibly low- Under $10 in parts for volume production.

** In Summary: NOVAlert offers a cost-effective and scientifically-validated improvement for safer life by helping prevent or reduce injuries. And, it can be a part of existing watch, smart or dumb, in the watch strap.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Dan Atlas
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    1
  • Dan's hobbies and activities:
    Photography, Music, Art
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  • Dan is inspired by:
    Anticipating needs in Bio-medical engineering over the past 37 years
  • Software used for this entry:
    Microchip. Bluetooth LE software to be written.
  • Patent status:
    pending