A step-by-step guide to include key electroencephalography (EEG) parameters in the study of human performance applied to air traffic control

Abstract The study of human performance of air traffic controllers (ATCOs) is an interesting line of research to improve operational safety. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of techniques available to develop this research based on massive data analysis. This study presents the use of certain electroencephalography (EEG) parameters to study the human performance of ATCOs. Although software and applications are now available to calculate these parameters, there are often problems in understanding the detailed process used to calculate them. The parameters presented in this study are intended to overcome this limitation and are applicable in real air traffic control (ATC) situations. Six parameters are analysed: excitement, stress, relaxation, boredom, engagement, and attention. As an application case for the parameters, a total of 50 data samples obtained during the development of real-time simulations on a highly realistic ATC platform are analysed. From these data, the above-mentioned EEG parameters and their trends are calculated. In addition, the evolution of these parameters is studied in relation to two other variables that characterise the operational situation of the sector during the simulations: the taskload based on ATC events and the number of simultaneous aircraft in the sector per minute.