Improving the training programs for maritime operations is beneficial to enhance maritime safety in practice. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to the assessment of visual attention in a maritime operation so as to support an expertin-the-loop training program. Experts' knowledge of maritime operation and experiences in the simulator are incorporated into the training program in three ways. First, through a questionnaire, information about task division, identification of critical operation, and definitions of areas of interest (AOIs) is incorporated as prior knowledge for modeling visual attention. Second, a weight scale factor that emphasizes the high importance of visual focus in critical operations is utilized to generate an operations-dependent attention map. Third, based on an expert's attention map and visual switch between AOIs, a similarity metric is designed as a comprehensive evaluation between saliency and visual transition. A case study of heavy lifting operation is performed by two groups of trainees who have received different briefings about "critical operation". The assessment result shows the group with more detailed briefing obtains a 6% similarity score higher than the other group, which is consistent with the debriefing result of a superior performance of that group. The proposed approach is thus verified effective in assessing visual attention for the expert-in-the-loop training program.

In the last decade researchers have increasingly considered eye tracking of the operators of cars and airplanes as a means to address human error and evaluate operational effectiveness. This article presents a systematic survey of recently published papers about this approach in service to the question as to whether eye tracking can be used to address operational safety in marine operations. The surveyed papers are selected systematically and were categorized according to several defined characteristics. Eye tracking depends on defining operators' areas of interest (AOIs) and measuring operators focus on them over time. We identified the method of defining AOIs as a key distinction between studies; the papers fell into four categories, depending on whether researchers relied on an expert, based it on the stimulus itself, or used an attention map or a clustering algorithm to define the AOIs they used. The article also summarizes and analyzes the design and procedure of the eye-tracking experiments in the papers. Based on the features of marine operation, instruction on AOI definition in different scenarios is extracted; guidelines on experimental design and procedure selection are provided. In the article's conclusion we apply the results to a case study of a heavy-lifting operation to demonstrate the effectiveness of eye-tracking in marine operations. Index Terms-Area of interest (AOI) definition method, automobile and aviation, eye tracking, knowledge transfer, marine operation. I. INTRODUCTION E YE tracking is a sensor technology that captures human eye behavior. It has been widely used to gain insight about automobile operation [1], [2], aviation [3], [4], web searching [5], reading [6], drawing [7], medical surgery [8], energy [9], mining [10], offshore [11], and the effect of depictions of healthy and unhealthy foods on children [12]. Among these, automobile and aviation are the two frequently studied fields with a wide range of research applications. Studies in these areas have focused either directly on safety or mental testing of drivers/pilots.

This paper presents a new analysis approach for evaluating situation awareness in marine operation training. Taking advantage of eye tracking technology, the situation awareness reflected by visual attention can be visualized and analyzed. A scanpath similarity comparison method that allows group-wise comparisons is proposed. The term ‘Expert zone’ is introduced to evaluate the performance of novice operator based on expert operators’ eye movement. It is used to evaluate performance of novice operators in groups in certain segment of marine operation. A pilot study of crane lifting experiment was carried out. Two target stages of operation for the load descending until total immersion to the seabed were selected and analyzed for both novice and expert operators. The group-wise evaluation method is proven to be able to access the performance of the operator. Besides that, from data analysis of fixation-related source and scanpath, the similarities and dissimilarities of eye behavior between novice and expert is concluded with the scanpath mode in target segment.

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