Application of vigilance research - Rare, medium, or well done?

In the years since Mackworth (1950) initiated research into problems of human vigilance, automated systems have become more complex and costly, with greater repercussions upon failure; this has led to a paradoxical enhancement of human monitoring's importance. Applications of vigilance research to well-designed systems that take human monitoring into account are rare, although the outlook for future systems is improving. Attention is presently given to problems encountered in considerations of signal rate, length of vigil, time decrements, and two examples of implementation from commercial aviation.