Introduction to Humans in Engineered Systems

Fully up-to-date coverage of human factors engineering―plus online access to interactive demonstrations and exercises

Engineering accomplishments can be as spectacular as a moon landing or as mundane as an uneventful drive to the local grocery store. Their failures can be as devastating as a plane crash or a massive oil spill. Over the past decade, psychologists and engineers have made great strides in understanding how humans interact with complex engineered systems―human engineering.

Introduction to Humans in Engineered Systems provides historical context for the discipline and an overview of some of the real-world settings in which human engineering has been successfully applied, including aviation, medicine, computer science, and ground transportation. It presents findings on the nature and variety of human-engineering environments, human capabilities and limitations, and how these factors influence system performance. Important features include:

• Contents organized around the interaction of the human operator with the larger environment to guide the analysis of real-world situations
• A web-based archive of interactive demonstrations, exercises, and links to additional readings and tools applicable to a range of application domains
• Web content customizable for focus on particular areas of study or research