Effects of fatigue on heart rate variability during long-haul simulated flights
WU Feng
XIONG Jinle
LIANG Xueyu
GE Hua
GUO Hua
ZHAO Andong
LI Xuan
FAN Xiaoli
DENG Lue
CAO Zhengtao
Abstract：Objective To unveil the patterns of change in heart rate during long-haul simulated flights,summarize how flight fatigue varies,and analyze the persistent physiological changes throughout the experiment.Methods Eight healthy males were selected and assigned to four groups to perform tasks as a captain and a co-pilot respectively.Flights were simulated using a 4-hour work and 4-hour rest mode,and the experiment lasted 48 hours.Electrocardiogram signals were recorded throughout the process and individual physiological changes were evaluated using heart rate variability(HRV)indicators.Results Both the captains and co-pilots were affected by the circadian rhythm and workload accumulation to varying degrees.The circadian rhythm resulted in regular changes during seven independent flights within 48 hours,and reached the peak by midnight.The impact of workload accumulation resulted in differences in HRV indicators between the beginning and the end of the 4-hour simulated flight.Conclusion In the shift-simulating flight,the levels of fatigue of pilots are affected by the circadian rhythm and workload accumulation.The analysis of heart rate variability can intuitively capture the changes,and effectively distinguish the fatigue status from the non-fatigue status of pilots at the beginning and the end of the simulated flight in combination with related machine learning models.
Keywords：Flight fatigueHeart rate variabilityMachine learning
Publication Date：2025-06-25
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 193-199 )