Human performance

The objective of the research area HUMAN PERFORMANCE is to enhance the understanding of extreme operational conditions and its effects on air crew performance and health.

The environment and ever evolving technology in military aerospace can create extreme conditions for the pilot, aircrew or maintainer. When incorporating new technologies, it is essential that the human operator remains central, ensuring deployability and to create an optimal man-machine teaming solution. In this respect, knowledge of Human Performance in demanding conditions is key.

Typical demanding conditions that we simulate, study and model, are the effects of G-loads, motion that may lead to Spatial Disorientation, hypoxia, Degraded Visual Environments (DVE), thermal burden, noise, information overload, startle and surprise, and fatigue.

To study the effects of these demanding operational conditions, different fields of expertise are involved, such as physiology, psychology, engineering, human movement science, and operational analysis.

Our activities support the development and innovation of various products, such as a Flight Sensing Shirt for monitoring air crew state, Spatial Disorientation training, Hypoxia awareness training, and selection criteria (e.g., physical and mental conditions, medication).