Home » Eye Tracking » Eye Tracking Devices Could Help Pilots Keep Their Eyes on the Skies

Eye Tracking Devices Could Help Pilots Keep Their Eyes on the Skies

Eye Tracking Devices Could Help Pilots Keep Their Eyes on the Skies Eye tracking devices that can detect fatigue could potentially save the lives of hundreds of airplane passengers and crew members. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), pilot fatigue played a role in at least 250 airline accident deaths over the last 15 years. As the result of a recent mysterious air traffic event, investigators are looking into what caused a Northwest Airlines flight heading from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul to fly for an hour and 45 minutes without radio communication and then overshoot the destination airport.

Imagine being on an airplane that flew 110 miles past your destination and the only excuse the pilots could give was that they were having a discussion about airplane policy and lost track of time. The last thing you want to hear from a pilot is “Oops!” There is some skepticism regarding the pilots’ explanation; it seems unlikely that a discussion, even a heated one, would distract pilots enough to miss over a dozen radio calls from dispatchers and fellow pilots. So what really went on behind the cockpit doors?

Some believe the answer to that question could be that the pilots fell asleep. Luckily for the passengers and crew of the Northwest Airlines flight, the pilots managed to turn the plane back around and land safely, but sometimes things don’t work out as well. Pilot fatigue is a dangerous issue that researchers are working to reduce, and the employment of eye or pupil tracking technology appears to be a promising solution. For instance, a research and development company called Eye-Com Corporation (ECC) has developed the Composite Oculometric Fatigue Index (COFI) to determine how certain ocular measurements like Eye Blink Duration (EBD) and Percentage of Time Eyes are Closed (PERCLOS) relate to vigilance and sleepiness. The COFI was created using a wearable eye-tracking device called the Eye-Com Biosensor, Communicator and Controller, which can be used to assist an onboard computer to detect signs of drowsiness or distraction and awaken a pilot or any other vehicle or machine operator suffering from fatigue or inattention.

If the pilots of the Northwest flight had been asleep, a device like this one could have spared them the embarrassment and possible traumatic consequences of the situation. Hopefully as advances in eye tracking technology continue, we will see a decrease the number of pilot fatigue-related “oops” in the air.

Eye Tracking Devices Could Help Pilots Keep Their Eyes on the Skies

Categories