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Human-Automation Interaction pp 653–662Cite as

Practical Challenges in Using Eye Trackers in the Field

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Part of the Automation, Collaboration, & E-Services book series (ACES,volume 12)

Abstract

Eye-tracking has been used in a wide variety of settings. Eye-tracking as a tool has been found to be useful in psychology, design, marketing and various other fields. With the advent of portable forms of eye-tracking equipment it is now feasible to use them in field conditions and not just in laboratory conditions. Given that they not only provide rich information on visual attention data but also provide insights into mental workload experienced under task conditions, they are now invaluable tools in gathering inputs on design. Increasingly eye-tracking is used as a tool to observe the operator’s performance in various safety critical settings. These are not simulator-based studies but studies in ecologically valid field conditions. In this chapter we carry out a detailed review about the various ways in which eye-trackers have been used in human factor studies in transport systems that are safety critical. The goal is to bring forth the many practical challenges and opportunities in using eye-trackers for human performance studies in field conditions.

Keywords

  • Eye-tracking
  • Field studies
  • Maritime
  • Aviation
  • Sensors
  • Ergonomics and human factors

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank NTNU for supporting some of the preliminary studies mentioned in this paper. We would like to thank our colleagues Frode Volden from NTNU for helping with crucial advice related to eye-trackers. We would like to thank Knut Inge Fostervold from UiO, who was kind to provide us with a portable eye tracker for one of the preliminary studies mentioned in this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Humans and Automation, Institute for Energy Technology, Halden, Norway

    Giovanni Pignoni

  2. Dept. Human-Centred Digitalization, Institute for Energy Technology, Halden, Norway

    Sashidharan Komandur

Authors
  1. Giovanni Pignoni
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  2. Sashidharan Komandur
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Pignoni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Vincent G. Duffy

  2. Human-Computer Interaction Center, Aachen University, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Martina Ziefle

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Pei-Luen Patrick Rau

  4. International School of Technology and Management, Feng Chia University, Taiwan, China

    Mitchell M. Tseng

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Pignoni, G., Komandur, S. (2023). Practical Challenges in Using Eye Trackers in the Field. In: Duffy, V.G., Ziefle, M., Rau, PL.P., Tseng, M.M. (eds) Human-Automation Interaction. Automation, Collaboration, & E-Services, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10788-7_37

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