The Evaluation Method of Mental Workload on Visual Interface in Cockpit

Objective to establish a system to evaluate the mental workload on visual display interface in airplane cockpit after synthesizing three kinds of mental workload assessment techniques, i.e. main task measure method, physiology measure method and subjective evaluate method. Methods The evaluation indices of every kind of assessment techniques was defined, and the amount of each index through experiment and subjective inquiry was gained, weighted average was calculated and a quantification evaluation value of each kind of evaluation methods was got. At last, with weighted calculation of above three evaluation values, the evaluation value of mental workload on visual display interface in airplane cockpit was obtained Results in M kinds of different designs of visual display interface in airplane cockpit, the synthetic evaluation value of one design was the smallest and the mental workload of this design was the smallest. The design of the smallest mental workload was chosen prior as the final scheme of visual display interface in airplane cockpit .Conclusion The evaluation system is combined with present main evaluation methods of mental workload and utilizes their advantages. The evaluating results can be quantified more directly and clearly. With this evaluation system, the mental workload can be evaluated during the design of visual display interface of airplane cockpit and the best scheme can be confirmed.