EEG-BASED METRIC FOR FLIGHT DECK WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT

THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL EVALUATE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH (EEG) BASED REAL-TIME METRIC FOR USE IN FLIGHT DECK WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT AND FUTURE SELF-ADAPTIVE AUTOMATED COCKPITS. THE APPROACH WILL CENTER ON THE USE OF THE STEADY-STATE VISUAL EVOKED RESPONSE (SSVER), AND INVOLVE ACTIVE PROBING UNDER A RANGE OF PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE LOADING CONDITIONS. ON-LINE SSVER MEASUREMENTS WILL BE PROCESSED TO YIELD WORKLOAD-SENSITIVE SSVER MODEL PARAMETERS WHICH WILL BE INCORPORATED IN A VER-BASED METRIC, FOR REAL-TIME WORKLOAD AND MENTAL STATE ASSESSMENT. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE THIS METRIC VIA FIVE TASKS. WE WILL: 1) HOST THE CURRENT SSVER MEASUREMENT SYSTEM ONTO A PC; 2) IMPLEMENT A SIMULATED FLIGHT DECK MANAGEMENT TASK; 3) CONDUCT A VALIDATION EXPERIMENT TO DEMONSTRATE THE PROPOSED METHODOLOGY; 4) SPECIFY AND EVALUATE CANDIDATE METRICS, BASED ON THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS; AND 5) ASSESS FEASIBILITY OF PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT AND OUTLINE A PHASE II PROGRAM. A FINAL REPORT WILL SUMMARIZE THE STUDY'S OBJECTIVES, FINDINGS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER WORK.