NeuroDesignScience: An fNIRS-Based System Designed to Help Pilots Sustain Attention During Transmeridian Flights

The transmeridian flight required pilots to perform tasks that are high in mental workload for long periods. Consequently, they are likely to experience fatigue and have difficulty in concentrating, which could lead to flight safety risks since pilots’ emergency response ability would be weakened. This study proposes a system to help pilots maintain attention on tasks over time to reduce air accidents. The neuroimaging method functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) would be used to assess the attention level and mental workload in this system. Based on the results, appropriate feedback, such as a reminder to re-engage the pilot if disengagement detected, would be provided. For testing the effectiveness of this system on sustained attention, an experiment was designed to examine whether using this system could reduce pilots’ missed instructions when communicating with ground control.