Analysis of the impact of task difficulty on the operatorʾs workload level

Abstract

The widely held thesis is that the profession of pilot is one of the most difficult jobs to do. The task of the article was to analyse whether and how the difficulty of the performed task affects the pilot’s workload during the flight. The research was carried out using a flight simulator. During the simulator tests, the cognitive load measurements represented by the change in pilot pulse and concentration were used. A finger pulse oximeter was used for the first purpose. The second device was Mindwave Mobile which allows to measure level of pilot’s concentration and relaxation. The NASA-TLX questionnaire is used as a subjective method of operator’s workload assessment. The examined person assesses the level of his/her load, using six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration level. Five research hypotheses were put forward and verified by the Friedman test. It has been shown that the level of difficulty of individual stages of the study is appropriately differentiated by pulse, concentration, relaxation, and subjective assessment of the respondents’ workload. It has been proved that pulse measurement, concentration, and relaxation levels, as well as subjective assessment of load levels, can be successfully used to assess the psychophysical condition of the operator.

Keywords

• flight simulator
• pilot workload
• task difficulty
• aviation
• Friedman test