Optical Sensor to Monitor Pupillary Light Reflex

K. Różanowskia and K. Murawskib aMilitary Institute of Aviation Medicine, Aviation Bioengineering Department, Z. Krasińskiego 54, 01-755 Warsaw, Poland bMilitary University of Technology, Institute of Teleinformatics and Automatics, S. Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warsaw, Poland

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The aim of the paper is to describe design of an optical sensor intended to analyze pupillary light reflex. It also presents the results of physiological adaptation mechanisms in human eye, i.e. response of the iris to changes in the intensity of light that falls on the retina of the eye under conditions of sensory deprivation. Pupillary light reflex is a closed loop nerve reflex. It controls the amount of light that reaches the retina. Based on the test results, an optical sensor was designed, fabricated and correctly calibrated. In comparative tests with the use of F2D Fit-For-Duty, a commercial system by AMTech, selected pupillographic parameters were primarily evaluated (baseline pupil diameter, oscillations, reflex latency, maximum reaction time, pupil constriction time, pupil dilation time, and constriction amplitude) under conditions of diminished alertness, reduced ability to concentrate, increasing fatigue, and drowsiness. The solution comes as part of a mobile pupillography device intended to be assembled in cars and airplanes to identify conditions of lower alertness, reduced ability to concentrate, increasing fatigue and drowsiness in drivers, pilots and traffic controllers, and to trigger alarm and preventive measures, if necessary.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.124.558 PACS numbers: 42.66.Ct, 42.30.Va, 07.05.Pj