Understanding fatigue in a naval submarine: Applying biomathematical models and workload measurement in an intensive longitudinal design

Endurance in extreme work environments

“…Our research team has utilized several of the above-mentioned methods (among others) as part of a large-scale research program which aims to inform and optimize submariner endurance within a future submarine platform design, intended to replace an existing fleet of submarines in the next several decades (see Boeing et al, 2020; Wilson et al, 2021). Existing literature offers limited guidance, with submariners facing several relatively unique operational constraints, such as tight limits on crew sizes, confined and isolated spaces (Brasher et al, 2010), and limited exposure to sunlight which has uncertain impacts on circadian processes (Bass & Lazar, 2016).…”

“…This data informed the development of a measurement protocol suited for ILD collection during live submarine operations, which consisted of wearable devices (i.e. actigraphy), daily diary surveys, and work/rest event logs, all of which enabled measurements at varying resolutions (e.g., minute-to-minute sleep/wake data to twice daily workload ratings) (see Wilson et al, 2021). A subset of the data including sleep/wake times, subjective fatigue, and workload measurements was analyzed with the Fatigue Impairment Predictions Suite (FIPS) (Wilson et al, 2020), which is an open-source framework that allows organizations, practitioners, and researchers to implement biomathematical models of fatigue (BMMs).…”

The next generation of fatigue prediction models: evaluating current trends in biomathematical modelling

“…Many fatigue prediction scenarios, such as identifying the risk of nonoptimal performance or human error in a work environment, require specific predictions about the performance of each operator. Unsurprisingly, current generation BMMs, that focus on group-level average predictions, have proved to be poor predictors of individual-level performance in the field (e.g., in simulated lunar habitation see, Flynn-Evans et al, 2020; in naval submarine activities see, Wilson et al, 2021). The third capability is that nextgeneration BMMs should be extended to incorporate additional fatigue-relevant factors into projections.…”

Effects of a modified shift work organization and traffic load on air traffic controllers’ sleep and alertness during work and non-work activities

“…Self-rated fatigue and alertness do not assess all the aspects of workload, i.e. the processes involved by task demands (planning, decision making, monitoring), internal factors (skills, training, experience, fatigue, various stressors), and individual characteristics (Costa, 2000;Loura, 2014;Nealley and Gawron, 2015;Wilson et al, 2021).…”