Edge computing to give astronauts a good night’s sleep

Everyone needs a good night’s sleep to perform at their best, including astronauts. 

A technology demonstration at the International Space Station (ISS) on Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) will test a wearable device that collects biometric data, such as total sleep time and heart rate variability during sleep.

The project, sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, is a collaborative effort between Booz Allen, Axiom
Space, and Oura. 

The demonstration aims to utilise edge computing to process and analyse biometric data in near real time, enabling crew members to make informed decisions about whether they are prepared for critical tasks.

“This technology will provide crew members with detailed insights into their sleep quality and biometrics, which will help them to understand how this directly impacts their fitness and ability
to best execute their duties the next day,” said Josh Arceneaux, Director of Human Space Flight at Booz Allen.

If successful, the demonstration would highlight the potential to eliminate the need for ground communication for certain activities, allowing crew members to operate more autonomously.

This capability will be increasingly vital for future long-duration missions, such as those to Mars, where communication delays and
other challenges will become more prevalent.

As with many commercial devices that track data on personal physical condition and performance, the information collected by each Oura Ring is sent to the company’s corporate cloud for analysis and storage and then provided to the user via a smartphone app. 

In orbit, the data will be processed by an edge computing device and provided directly to
the crew member for evaluation.

“Ultimately, this demonstration will showcase whether we can collect, store, and analyse that data and empower crew members to make decisions without needing to connect to the ground,” Arceneaux said.

“This is part of a bigger objective to move abilities we’re accustomed to having on the ground to use in spaceflight.”

Ax-4 is scheduled to launch no earlier than 10 June 2025, at 8.22 a.m. EDT (1.22 p.m. GMT), from Florida.