STTR Phase I: Individualized circadian rhythm therapy via schedule-sensitive photic interventions in shared workspaces

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是支持睡眠障碍患者。睡眠和昼夜节律影响人的表现、情绪、决策、学习、记忆、警觉性和整体身心健康。在缺乏充足睡眠的情况下，人类需要在不利的昼夜节律阶段进行关键工作，这在世界上一些最具破坏性的工业和工程灾难以及工作场所和道路上的“日常”事故中发挥了作用。在美国，睡眠不足造成的经济负担估计为每年4110亿美元。适当地提供光线可以帮助解决这些潜在的危险情况。该项目结合了硬件设计（固定和可穿戴传感器）、系统工程和昼夜节律生物学，为共享空间中的个人提供有针对性的（主要是基于光线的）干预措施，以改善他们的昼夜节律、睡眠和整体健康。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目集成了可穿戴和固定式生物节律传感器，用于测量每个人的昼夜节律状态；用于跟踪环境占用模式的室内定位传感器；提供光线和其他干预措施的控制器；以及有效管理冲突和竞争时间表的算法。共享空间提供了一些独特的、高度个性化的挑战，以确保对一个人的刺激不会干扰到另一个人。这些研究将验证该技术，并为训练算法提供数据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to support individuals with sleep disorders. Sleep and circadian rhythms influence human performance, mood, decision-making, learning, memory, alertness, and overall physical and mental health. The demand for humans to perform critical work at adverse circadian phases while lacking adequate sleep has played a role in some of the world’s most devastating industrial and engineering disasters, as well as “everyday” incidents in the workplace and on the roadways. The economic burden of sleep loss is estimated at $411 billion/year in the US. Providing light appropriately can help address these potentially dangerous situations. The proposed project combines hardware design (fixed and wearable sensors), systems engineering and circadian rhythm biology to provide individuals in shared spaces with targeted (primarily light-based) interventions to improve their circadian rhythmicity, sleep and general wellness. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project integrates wearable and stationary biometric circadian sensors for measuring the circadian state of each individual; indoor positioning sensors for tracking ambient occupation patterns; controllers for delivering light and other interventions; and algorithms for effectively managing conflicting and competing schedules. Shared spaces offer several unique and highly individualized challenges in terms of ensuring that the stimulus for one individual does not interfere with another person. The studies will validate the technology and provide data to train the algorithms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.