Method and system for detecting and remedying situation awareness failures in operators of remotely operated vehicles

A system for detecting and remedying a situation awareness failure of an operator of a remotely operated vehicle, the system comprising:

• an eye tracker device for monitoring a point-of-gaze of the operator;
• one or more databases for storing (i) a location of an indicator contained within a display of a control station for remotely operating the remotely operated vehicle, (ii) an inspected value of the indicator when the point-of-gaze of the operator intersects the location of the indicator, the inspected value representing an inspected operating state of the remotely operated vehicle at a time when the operator last inspected the indicator, and (iii) a real-time value of the indicator, the real-time value representing a current operating state of the remotely operated vehicle;
• and
• a computing device programmed to receive the inspected value and the real-time value of the indicator from the one or more databases, and to assess a situation awareness of the operator based on a comparative analysis of the real-time value and the inspected value of the indicator.

A ground control system for detecting and remedying a situation awareness failure of a remotely piloted aircraft, the ground control system comprising:

• a ground control station comprising a display;
• an eye tracker device for monitoring a point-of-gaze of a pilot;
• one or more databases for storing (i) a location of a plurality of indicators contained within the display for controlling the remotely piloted aircraft, (ii) inspected values of each of the indicators when the point-of-gaze of the remote pilot intersects the location of each of the indicators, the inspected values representing an inspected operating state of the remotely piloted aircraft at a time when a remote pilot last inspected each of the indicators, and (iii) real-time values of each of the indicators, the real-time values representing a current operating state of the remotely piloted aircraft;
• and
• a computing device programmed to receive the inspected value and the real-time value of each of the indicators from the one or more databases, and to assess a situation awareness of the pilot based on a comparative analysis of the real-time value and the inspected value of each of the indicators.