aquaLink

Navy divers perform challenging tasks under difficult conditions that have long-lasting health impacts.

How might we protect both the short- and long-term physical health of our nation’s divers?

aquaLink is a system of wearable devices that records data critical to diver health and safety,

and makes it actionable through real-time alerts and post-usage analytics. TEAM

Dave Ahern: International Policy/Defense AcquisitionHong En Chew: Hardware EngineeringRachel Olney: Product DesignSamir Patel: Mechatronics/Finance

SPONSOR

Brian Ferguson & U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group 3U.S. Special Operations Commandaqua

Link This Week Previously Total

Users 8 9 17

Buyers 0 2 1

Experts 2 10 12

Interview Breakdown

Customer DiscoveryHypotheses Results Actions

Vitals Data in 3 phases:1. During the mission:

emergency alerts only2. After the dive: for rest

period diagnostics3. Long-term: for research on

dive health prognostics

Stakeholder interviews.Diver MVP

During the mission and long term are the most important. They trust their divers to manage in between. They trust them to manage their own health during missions.

Vitals and DataDivers will want real-time alerts regarding vitals (and put up with the additional gear/procedures) of issues that threaten mission success.Researchers want data on vitals, the rebreather (air consumption), and the dive computer (dive profile).

New EquipmentDivers may not be very receptive to new equipment especially if it is not a massive value added

Operator and Stakeholder interviews.MVPs

Many people expressed a huge interest in new equipment. They are not very happy with current equipment and are very receptive to new gear.

Because the operator does want new equipment. We have to prevent cognitive overload if they want to add all sorts of features that we believe are just nice-to-haves.

GeolocationRequirements (resolution, range) are highly dependent on the particular use case, and current methods are full of pain points but no single problem is seen as top priority to solve

Stakeholder interviews.Communications MVP

Everyone we spoke to said this is the holy grail of problems. However, this doesn’t add to solving health problems.

Working on some workarounds that may allow the operators to get a GPS fix.

Experiments

Customer Archetype

● Male, age 21-32

● Competitive, driven, physically fit, mentally resilient

● Volunteers to join the Navy; spends 2-4 years training

● Volunteers to become a Navy SEAL; spends 1.5-2

years training

● Volunteers to join SDV; spends an additional 3-6

months training

● Driven by problem solving and technical mastery

● Not naturally focused on the long-term health impacts

● Highly specialized; constant pursuit of

optimization

Mission Model

Need funding from sponsors for further R&D/manufacturing

Need evaluation/ certification by NEDU before field deploymentEarly adopters

Operators Must Benefit During Mission for Buy-In

KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES

KEY RESOURCES

VALUE PROPOSITION BUY-IN / SUPPORT

DEPLOYMENT

BENEFICIARIES

MISSION BUDGET MISSION ACHIEVEMENT FACTORS

- Problem sponsors: Navy Special Warfare Group 3 (NSWG-3), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM)- Military diver-related research organizations: Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), SOCOM Human Performance Resource Center, Naval Underwater Medical Institute (NUMI)- Commercial partners: medical device/wearables companies, mil-spec dive equipment manufacturers

- Fundamental cycle: hypotheses -> MVP (rapid prototyping of hardware/ software) -> stakeholder interviews to evaluate MVP -> pivot and repeat

- Defence procurement expertise: course staff, sponsors, DIUX, liaisons- User expertise: military divers, scientific divers- Medical expertise: med sch, SOCOM HPRC

- Hardware/software prototyping costs (RDT&E from NEDU or SOCOM)- Purchase of existing products on the market for evaluation (NSWG3 or

NAVSOC N-8).

1. Feasibility: At the end of the quarter, NSWG3/SOCOM decide that our proposal merits further development and initiates their internal processes for funding/pilot testing/field deployment

2. Performance: Our prototype should demonstrate that all critical features can be integrated within given size/weight/cost specs

3. User satisfaction: Seamless integration into current SOP Divers develop SOP to upload data as part of recovery process.

Obtain device validation and approval from NEDUPilot test with a select group of users in NSWG-3 Scale up to many units in and beyond NSWG-3

Direct users in NSWG3 and other military divers

Military diver-related research organizations e.g. NEDU, SOCOM HPRC, NUMI

- Divers: Integrate vital and system monitoring with real-time display capability

- Medical Staff: acquire the real-time data in a digestible format

Medical Staff: Create the Navy’s first long-term repository of diver health data: detailed dataset to improve training/operation protocols and predict and prevent long-term injuries

NAVSOC/SOCOM Procurement Specialist. (Initiated by NSWG3’s N8, approved by NEDU testing.)

Air Force and Navy Pilots

AquaLink Value Proposition SDVT-1 Diver

-Develop tailored platform to sync individual diver data in central repository accessible by medical professionals-Provide Human Performance staff with acute feedback to optimize diver performance

- Synchronize oxygen system and vital monitoring through wireless connection system- Possibility of co-opting existing commercial communication device (UDI)

Wearable Sensors and Data

Repository

-Extremely proficient and adaptive divers-Access to world class medical professionals and performance coaches-Relatively agile procurement/acquisition process

- No singular interface for all Dive information-No ability to monitor vitals in real time-No ability to maintain flexible communication between divers-No overall locational situational awareness

Conduct underwater

operations for the U.S. Military

Value Proposition Canvas

AquaLink Value Proposition Doctor at Naval Health Research Center

-Integrate sensors to collect vitals identified as critical information gaps (core temp, HRV, blood-oxygen, etc)

-Ruggedize monitors/sensors to enhance collection capability-Develop data sync function that minimizes operator requirement

AquaLink Integrated Sensor

platform

-Funding and approval flexibility-Scheduled access to divers for testing-Institutional credibility and established pathways for testing, procurement, etc

-Durability of current monitors insufficient to withstand conditions-No central repository for data collected

Collect and Analyze data on Diver

Health

Value Proposition Canvas

Workflow (After)

Hypotheses Moving Forward

The individual divers should monitor their own vitals during the mission and the leadership trusts them to.

System should deliver real-time value in the form of system checks (oxygen levels, kick count, etc) to generate operator buy-in

A heads up display is the ideal form of information transmission during a dive.

Any system should be modular in nature to allow for the integration of evolving technology (geolocation and communication)

System should pair data transmission with a critical function to force data collection

15596

Accelerometer for Distance traveledReceive from sensors/ upload data

Measure ambient psi for health data

Compute/ etc.

Monitor tanks

Accelerometerfor kick count

Measure heart rate, BP, core temp, O2 saturation

Communication Link MVP