Monitoring Neuromuscular Fatigue – A Noninvasive Approach

Abstract

Monitoring neuromuscular fatigue in fighter pilots is important and with serious effects. The limit conditions the pilots are submitted to during flight missions make monitoring neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) extremely important, as NMF significantly increases the risk of accident and affects the pilot’s efficiency. We developed a noninvasive approach of monitoring the NMF, based on the compression of the Power Spectral Density of the SEMG (surface electromyogram) toward lower frequencies with increasing NMF, quantified by the Instantaneous Median Scale (IMedS) computed from SEMG via the Wavelet Transform. The Raa parameter (Area/Amplitude Ratio) computed on the SEMG was concurrently used. The paper provides a functional, practically oriented overview.