EEG-Based Human Factors Evaluation of Conflict Resolution Aid and Tactile User Interface in Future Air Traffic Control Systems

Currently, Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems are reliable with automation supports, however, the increased traffic density and complex air traffic situations bring new challenges to ATC systems and air-traffic controllers (ATCOs). We conduct an experiment to evaluate the current ATC system and test conflict resolution automation and tactile user interface to be the inputs of the future ATC system. We propose an Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based system to monitor and analyze human factors measurements of ATCOs in ATC systems to apply it in our experiment. The EEG-based tools are used to monitor and record the brain states of ATCOs during the experiment. Real-time EEG-based human factors evaluation of an ATC system allows researchers to analyze the changes of ATCOs’ brain states during the performance of various ATC tasks. Based on the analyses of the objective real time data together with the subjective feedback from ATCOs, we are able to reliably evaluate current ATC systems and refine new concepts of future ATC system.

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