Linear temporal characteristics of heart interbeat interval as an index of the pilot's perceived risk

The concept of adaptive automation is the first commendable step towards machine monitoring and support of the human operator behaviour and performance. Despite a large number of studies, the concept is still not sufficiently mature and more experimental studies are required to enable its application in the real world. As a small contribution in this direction, this experimental study made an effort to develop some techniques for online assessment of the pilot's perceived risk of the consequences resulting from their inability to execute a task adequately. Linear dynamical characteristics of 60 pilot's heart interbeat intervals were used for the assessment. Past research has shown that such 'perceived risk' influences the pilot's need for an automation aid. The preliminary results of this study suggested that the frequency and power of the heart interbeat interval dominant cycle, together with the characteristics of the energy contained in the power spectrum, can be sensitive indices of the level of perceived risk. The study techniques and preliminary results appear promising for incorporation into the algorithm of an intelligent online monitoring and alerting system on future aerospace vehicles to define the moments when the human supervisory controllers require an automation aid.