Flight Eye Tracking Assistant (FETA): Proof of Concept

Abstract

Accident investigations show that piloting errors (e.g., incorrect trajectory) often result from an inadequate monitoring of the cockpit instruments. Recent improvements of the eye tracking technology now allow a reliable and rather accurate recording of eye movements in ecological environments. The present study investigates how the integration of eye tracking in the cockpit could help pilots performing an efficient surveillance of their instruments. We developed FETA, an embedded system that evaluates online the visual monitoring of the cockpit. The system compares the current visual scan of the pilot with a database of “standard” visual circuits established thanks to eye-tracking recordings from 16 airlines pilots. If the current visual scan deviates too much from the database, e.g., the speed is not fixated during a too long period, FETA emits a vocal alarm to reorient attention. This paper presents the development of FETA and its preliminary evaluation with 5 airlines pilots. During an approach-landing phase in flight simulator; we assessed the impact of FETA on situation awareness, cognitive resources, flight performance, and visual scans. Results showed that FETA system efficiently redirected attention toward critical flight instruments. However, improvements must be performed to satisfy with operational requirements. For example, it seems important to take also into-account flight parameters in order to limit unnecessary alerts.