Comparative Characteristics of Psychophysiological Peculiarities of Operators of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Air Traffic Control Personnel

Annotation. The article is devoted to the study and comparison of professionally important psychophysiological peculiarities of operators of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and air traffic control (ATC) personnel who are serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to establish the kinship and differences in the psychophysiological characteristics of operators of UAS and ATC personnel in order to develop recommendations for conducting professional orientation and professional selection of such specialists. To achieve the goal, 142 operators of UAS and 71 specialists who perform duties in the process of ATC under the age of 40 during the period of inpatient flight medical examination on the basis of the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Central Region were selected. The examination was carried out with the help of blank methods and software and hardware complex for psychophysiological research «PFI-2». It is shown that operators of UAS are more prone to risk compared to ATC personnel. The difference in speed characteristics of operators of UAS and ATC personnel indicates higher requirements for decision-making by operators of UAS and greater exhaustion of to the indicators of the critical frequency of light flickers and the number of omission errors in the implementation of the evaluation of a complex visual-motor reaction, which proves that they are busier during the performance of official duties. The number of correct marks when performing the attention task is higher among ATC personnel, and the number of missed rings among operators of UAS is slightly higher compared to the order studied group. Such an effect may be related to the difference in the form of their professional activity during the performance of assigned tasks. The established difference in the level of psychological and psychophysiological parameters of operators OF UAS and ATC personnel can be used to develop criteria for monitoring professionally important qualities and professional selection of specialists in the specified professions.