Eye Segment Movements as Indicators of Mental Workload in Air Traffic Control Tasks

Abstract

Air Traffic Control job endures working processes that result in mental workloads, mainly due to the increase in air traffic. This study was aimed at evaluating mental workload among ATC controller by examining changes in facial landmarks (especially the eyes segments) that could be indicative of high workload, compared to moderate workload. Through observation of ATC’s tasks in the simulator, the recording of facial movement during the experiment were analyzed by facial landmark detection software. The facial movement was average, maximum, and a number of change direction moves, both in x and y axis. Among the four analyzed points (left and right eye-brows and left and right eye outer-tips), the eyebrows segments could differentiate moderate vs. high mental workload. The average x axis movements in the in medium load is more than 2.5 units, higher than value in high load, between 1–2.5 units. Y axis movement tend to have bigger movement, above 30 units for medium load and below 25 units for high load. The outcome of this study showed that the differences in facial movements can be employed as potential indicators of workload among ATC operators.