The goal of the planner or scheduler is to keep performance effectiveness at or above 90% by manipulating the timing and lengths of work and rest periods.
FAST was developed under Phase 1 and 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract awards from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Human Effectiveness Directorate, to NTI, Inc.[3] (Dr. Douglas R. Eddy, Principal Investigator) with Science Applications International Corporation as a subcontractor (Dr. Steven R. Hursh, Modeler).
[4][5][6][7] Fatigue predictions in FAST are derived from the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness (SAFTE) simulation invented by Dr. Hursh, currently the President of the Institutes for Behavior Resources and Adjunct Professor of Behavioral Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
In the general architecture of the SAFTE model, a circadian process influences both cognitive effectiveness and sleep regulation.
During the Phase 2 effort, the model was refined with findings from AF research and other studies providing a blood alcohol index, lapse index, sleep timing algorithm, and interface features (performance variation percentiles, mission timeline, grid input,[12] and fatigue factors dashboard, to name a few).
FAST provided the military physiologist the first computerized tool that used a homeostatic model for optimizing aviator performance under conditions of limited sleep while minimizing the need for pharmacological aids.
The tool was intended to improve flight safety, optimize mission success during sustained operations, and minimize the need for pharmacological aids.
SAFTE estimated crew effectiveness (the inverse of fatigue) based entirely on work schedule information and opportunities to obtain sleep.
In 2005, AFRL awarded a 3-year, Phase 3 SBIR contract to NTI to develop and demonstrate a browser-based, predictive and quantitative fatigue-management software tool for mission planning, crew performance assessment, and status reporting, based upon FAST.
Usability tests of the interfaces were conducted to determine if they met the needs of expert users and the tool was easy to learn for novices.
In early 2007, the 201 Airlift Squadron of the District of Columbia Air National Guard (ANG), successfully integrated its own version of the SAFTE simulation into its daily scheduling operations.
In August 2007, the Air National Guard Aviation Safety Division, under the direction of Lt Col Edward Vaughan, funded a project to provide a user interface for daily use by pilot schedulers and integration with automated flight scheduling software.
The project cited empirical data collected in combat and non-combat aviation operations, and challenged existing crew rest policies as adequate in preventing degraded human performance.