1 Working paper to appear in Denis A. Coelho and Isabel L. Nunes in Effective Surveillance for Homeland Security: Balancing Technology and Social Issues Published: November 15, 2012 by Chapman and Hall/CRC - 320 Pages Editor(s): Francesco Flammini; Roberto Setola; Giorgio Franceschetti ISBN 9781439883242 Ergonomic design and evaluation of surveillance systems Denis A. Coelho (1) and Isabel L. Nunes (2) 1 – Human Technology Group, Dept. of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal 2 – Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica e Industrial, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Abstract As part of a state-of-the-art survey of methods and tools for surveillance and protection of citizens and critical infrastructures, this chapter presents a Human Factors and Ergonomics perspective to support the design and evaluation of surveillance systems. The chapter is composed of three main parts. Human characteristics that impinge on surveillance systems design for effective human-system coupling are reviewed, focusing especially on perception and modes of control, as well as on information processing. Performance considerations are centered on fatigue and arousal states, as well as tolerance to shift work. Human Factors and Ergonomics testing and evaluation methods are considered, including usability, while