2011 Funded Technologies
Space to Earth
Pulsar Informatics, Inc.
Rachel Bartells and the CEO of Pulsar Informatics, Inc., Dr. Daniel Mollicone, demonstrate SleepFit, an app based on the alertness test currently used by astronauts on the ISS and adapted for long-haul truck drivers and other shift workers on Earth.
NSBRI-funded technology currently used by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) can now be used here on Earth. The software is available free to the public as an Android phone app, and can be downloaded here: SleepFit. Pulsar Informatics used SMARTCAP funding to develop the app based on the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). It was deployed in a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)-sponsored study in partnership with Schneider National, the largest privately held U.S. trucking company, to assess fatigue and fitness for duty in long-haul truck drivers. The results of the study were released in 2014 (FMCSA Hours of Service Study). Pulsar is now recruiting truckers to participate in an expanded study (FMCSA Restart Study Plan), the results were reported to Congress in the fall of 2015.
UPDATE: Where is Pulsar Informatics Now?
Pulsar Informatic’s SleepFit App Helps improve your sleep health with an alarm clock that goes beyond waking you up. Visualize your sleep habits with our sleep log, and track your day-time alertness.
May 13, 2015
Pulsar Informatics, Inc. received the first ever SMARTCAP grant in the fall of 2011. It used the grant to develop SleepFit, a smartphone-based; three minute Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT). The PVT has been in use on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than five years to help assess an astronaut’s level of fatigue prior to mission-critical assignments.
SleepFit was used in a field study sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to evaluate Hours of Service (HOS) regulations for commercial truck drivers. Pulsar contributed to the study, which assessed fatigue in long haul truck drivers. The results were reported in January, 2014, (FMCSA Hours of Service Study).
This study brought into focus the importance of fatigue planning and a gap in products for the commercial motor vehicle market related to tracking and mitigating driver fatigue. There is a need for route planning software that helps drivers and dispatchers plan drives in a way that optimizes constraints related to load assignments, hours-of-service regulations, fatigue, traffic, and rest stop availability. Pulsar’s technology combines fatigue assessment and mathematical models, providing the perfect platform to address this need. The product, called DrivePlan, will be available for purchase as an add-on to route planning and electronic log solutions through industry leading route-planning products.
Pulsar has signed a new contract with the Department of Defense Health Program to develop a tool that will be used as part of the Performance Triad health initiative led by the Surgeon General of the Army, Lieutenant General Patricia Horoho. The performance triad focuses on three elements of health: nutrition, exercise and sleep. Pulsar will evolve SleepFit to serve as a personalized sleep health coach for participants, enabling them to monitor and improve their sleep hygiene.
Since receiving the inaugural SMARTCAP grant, Pulsar has expanded its Fatigue Risk Management technology offerings to provide a comprehensive suite of products and services to mitigate fatigue risk. Pulsar now serves many fortune 500 companies included some of the most recognized brands in the petroleum, manufacturing, finance and retail industries.
As it looks to the future, which may include its first capital raise with outside investors, Pulsar is evaluating the strategic and tactical options available to drive growth for the company.