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International audience; This article provides the reader a focused and organised review of the research progresses on neurophysiological indicators, also called “neurometrics”, to show how neurometrics could effectively address some of the most important Human Factors (HFs) needs in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) field. The state of the art on the most involved HFs and related cognitive processes (e.g. mental workload, cognitive training) is presented together with examples of possible applications in the current and future ATM scenarios, in order to better understand and highlight the available opportunities of such neuroscientific applications. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the potential enhancement that further research and development activities could bring to the efficiency and safety of the ATM service.

International audience; The present study aims at investigating the contribution of multimodal modalities to the context of Remote Towers. Interactive spatial sound and vibrotactile feedback were used to design 4 different types of interaction and feedback, responding to 4 typical Air Traffic Control use cases. The experiment involved 16 professional Air Traffic Controllers, who have been called to manage 4 different ATC scenarios into ecological experimental conditions. In two of the scenarios, participants had to control only one airport (i.e., Single Remote Tower context), while in the other two scenarios participants had to control simultaneously two airports (i.e., Multiple Remote Tower context). The augmentation modalities were activated or not in a balanced way. Behavioral results highlighted a significant increase in overall participants performance when the augmentation modalities were activated in Single Remote Tower context. This work demonstrates that some types of augmentation modalities can be used into Remote Tower context.

International audience; This study aims at investigating the possibility to employ neurophysiological measures to assess the human - machine interaction effectiveness . Such a measure can be used to compare new technologies or solutions, with the final purpose to enhance operator’s experience and increase safety. I n the present work, two different interaction modalities (Normal and Augmented) related to Air Traffic Management field have been compared , by involving 10 professional air traffic controllers in a control tower simulated environment . Experimental task consisted in locating aircrafts in different airspace positions by using the sense of hearing. In one modality (i.e. “Normal”), all the sound sources (aircraft s ) had the same amplification factor . I n the “Augmented” modality , the amplification factor of the sound sources located al ong the participant head sagittal axis was increased, while the intensity of sound sources located outside this axis decreased . In other words, when the user oriented his head toward the aircraft position, the related sound was amplified. Performance data , subjective questionnaires (i.e. NASA - TLX) and neurophysiological measures (i.e. EEG - based) related to the experienced workload have been collected. Results showed higher significant performance achieved by the users during the “Augmented” modality with respect to the “Normal” one, supported by a significant decreasing in experienced workload, evaluated by using EEG - based index. In addition, Performance and EEG - based workload index showed a significant negative correlation. On the contrary , subjective workload analysis did not show any significant trend. This result is a demonstration of the higher effectiveness of neurophysiological measures with respect to subjective ones for Human - Computer Interaction assessment.

The knowledge of operational experts plays a fundamental role in performing safety assessments in safety critical organizations. The complexity and socio-technical nature of such systems produce hazardous situations which require a thorough understanding of concrete operational scenarios and cannot be anticipated by simply analysing single failures of specific functions. This paper addresses some limitations regarding state-of-the-art safety assessment techniques, with special reference to the adoption of “chain of event” models in accident causation (widely criticised by many authors), to the use of severity classes and to the adoption of the worst credible effect criterion. Such methods tend to assume a linear link between single hazards considered in isolation and corresponding consequences for safety, thus neglecting the intrinsic complexity of the systems under analysis and reducing the opportunities for an effective involvement of operational experts. An alternative approach is proposed to overcome these limitations, by distinguishing different typologies of hazards and integrating the analysis of single functions with the study of concrete operational scenarios.

This paper presents an approach that has been used in the Mediterranean Free Flight project to elicit information from operational experts (pilots and controllers). The project investigates new Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts and procedures delegating to aircrew some controller tasks related to separation assurance. The information obtained from the operational experts has been used for the safety assessment of these new concepts and procedures. A set of specific exercises were added to the conventional real time and cockpit simulations, to offer the operational experts the opportunity to familiarise with the new procedures and to experience normal and abnormal events during their usage. In this way - even if concepts and procedures were extremely innovative and there was a lack of real operational experience about them - valid information from the operational experts could be gathered. The information elicited has been very useful for the identification and analysis of the possible hazards related to the use of the new concepts and procedures, and for the definition of the related safety requirements. Language: en

In the last decades, it has been a fast-growing concept in the neuroscience field. The passive brain-computer interface (p-BCI) systems allow to improve the human-machine interaction (HMI) in operational environments, by using the covert brain activity (eg, mental workload) of the operator. However, p-BCI technology could suffer from some practical issues when used outside the laboratories. In particular, one of the most important limitations is the necessity to recalibrate the p-BCI system each time before its use, to avoid a significant reduction of its reliability in the detection of the considered mental states. The objective of the proposed study was to provide an example of p-BCIs used to evaluate the users' mental workload in a real operational environment. For this purpose, through the facilities provided by the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile of Toulouse (France), the cerebral activity of 12 professional air traffic control officers (ATCOs) has been recorded while performing high realistic air traffic management scenarios. By the analysis of the ATCOs' brain activity (electroencephalographic signal-EEG) and the subjective workload perception (instantaneous self-assessment) provided by both the examined ATCOs and external air traffic control experts, it has been possible to estimate and evaluate the variation of the mental workload under which the controllers were operating. The results showed (i) a high significant correlation between the neurophysiological and the subjective workload assessment, and (ii) a high reliability over time (up to a month) of the proposed algorithm that was also able to maintain high discrimination accuracies by using a low number of EEG electrodes (~3 EEG channels). In conclusion, the proposed methodology demonstrated the suitability of p-BCI systems in operational environments and the advantages of the neurophysiological measures with respect to the subjective ones.

This paper presents and discusses the application of safety assessment methodologies to a pre-operational project in the Air Traffic Control field. In the case analysed in the present paper a peculiar aspect was the necessity to effectively assess new operational procedures and tools. In particular we exploited an integrated methodology to evaluate computer-based applications and their interactions with the operational environment. Current ATC safety practices, methodologies, guidelines and standards were critically revised, in order to identify how they could be applied to the project under consideration. Thus specific problematic areas for the safety assessment in a pre-operational experimental project are highlighted and, on the basis of theoretical principles, some possible solutions taken into consideration. The latter are described highlighting the rationale of most relevant decisions, in order to provide guidance for generalisation or re-use.

In this paper the use of neurophysiological indexes for an objective evaluation of mental workload, during an ecological Air Traffic Management (ATM) task, has been proposed.

The aim of this work was to analyze the possibility to apply a neuroelectrical cognitive metrics for the evaluation of the training level of subjects during the learning of a task employed by Air Traffic Controllers (ATCos). In particular, the Electroencephalogram (EEG), the Electrocardiogram (ECG) and the Electrooculogram (EOG) signals were gathered from a group of students during the execution of an Air Traffic Management (ATM) task, proposed at three different levels of difficulty. The neuroelectrical results were compared with the subjective perception of the task difficulty obtained by the NASA-TLX questionnaires. From these analyses, we suggest that the integration of information derived from the power spectral density (PSD) of the EEG signals, the heart rate (HR) and the eye-blink rate (EBR) return important quantitative information about the training level of the subjects. In particular, by focusing the analysis on the direct and inverse correlation of the frontal PSD theta (4-7 (Hz)) and HR, and of the parietal PSD alpha (10-12 (Hz)) and EBR, respectively, with the degree of mental and emotive engagement, it is possible to obtain useful information about the training improvement across the training sessions.

This paper presents the application of cultural-historical concepts to the study of human activity in safety critical systems. The methodological issue we explore is how to better elicit expert knowledge in domains with professional users. In particular, we focus on the contribution of the genetic method to the study of air traffic controllers' cognitive activity of anticipating aircraft trajectories. Our claim is that a cultural-historical perspective on the nature of expertise can provide useful insights of what constitutes the expertise and in the communication with the domain experts.

This paper presents and discusses the application of safety assessment methodologies to a pre-operational project in the Air Traffic Control field. In the case analysed in the present paper a peculiar aspect was the necessity to effectively assess new operational procedures and tools. In particular we exploited an integrated methodology to evaluate computer-based applications and their interactions with the operational environment. Current ATC safety practices, methodologies, guidelines and standards were critically revised, in order to identify how they could be applied to the project under consideration. Thus specific problematic areas for the safety assessment in a pre-operational experimental project are highlighted and, on the basis of theoretical principles, some possible solutions taken into consideration. The latter are described highlighting the rationale of most relevant decisions, in order to provide guidance for generalisation or re-use.

International audience; Adaptive Automation (AA) is a promising approach to keep the task workload demand within appropriate levels in order to avoid both the under- and over-load conditions, hence enhancing the overall performance and safety of the human-machine system. The main issue on the use of AA is how to trigger the AA solutions without affecting the operative task. In this regard, passive Brain-Computer Interface (pBCI) systems are a good candidate to activate automation, since they are able to gather information about the covert behavior (e.g., mental workload) of a subject by analyzing its neurophysiological signals (i.e., brain activity), and without interfering with the ongoing operational activity. We proposed a pBCI system able to trigger AA solutions integrated in a realistic Air Traffic Management (ATM) research simulator developed and hosted at ENAC (École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile of Toulouse, France). Twelve Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) students have been involved in the experiment and they have been asked to perform ATM scenarios with and without the support of the AA solutions. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed pBCI system, since it enabled the AA mostly during the high-demanding conditions (i.e., overload situations) inducing a reduction of the mental workload under which the ATCOs were operating. On the contrary, as desired, the AA was not activated when workload level was under the threshold, to prevent too low demanding conditions that could bring the operator's workload level toward potentially dangerous conditions of underload.