Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,

In light of the Office of the Secretary Defense’s Roadmap for unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), there is a critical need for research examining human interaction with heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. The OSD Roadmap clearly delineates the need to investigate the “appropriate conditions and requireme...

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Main Authors: Cummings, M. L., Bruni, S., Mercier, S., Mitchell, P. J.
Format: Article
Published: The International Command and Control Journal 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90285
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author Cummings, M. L.
Bruni, S.
Mercier, S.
Mitchell, P. J.
author_facet Cummings, M. L.
Bruni, S.
Mercier, S.
Mitchell, P. J.
author_sort Cummings, M. L.
collection MIT
description In light of the Office of the Secretary Defense’s Roadmap for unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), there is a critical need for research examining human interaction with heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. The OSD Roadmap clearly delineates the need to investigate the “appropriate conditions and requirements under which a single pilot would be allowed to control multiple airborne UA (unmanned aircraft) simultaneously.” Toward this end, in this paper, we provide a meta-analysis of research studies across unmanned aerial and ground vehicle domains that investigated single operator control of multiple vehicles. As a result, a hierarchical control model for single operator control of multiple unmanned vehicles (UV) is proposed that demonstrates those requirements that will need to be met for operator cognitive support of multiple UV control, with an emphasis on the introduction of higher levels of autonomy. The challenge in achieving effective management of multiple UV systems in the future is not only to determine whether automation can be used to improve human and system performance, but how and to what degree across hierarchical control loops, as well as determining the types of decision support that will be needed by operators given the high-workload environment. We address when and how increasing levels of automation should be incorporated in multiple UV systems and discuss the impact on not only human performance, but more importantly, on system performance.
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spelling mit-1721.1/902852019-04-11T00:56:20Z Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control, Cummings, M. L. Bruni, S. Mercier, S. Mitchell, P. J. multiple unmanned aerial vehicles supervisory control operator capacity In light of the Office of the Secretary Defense’s Roadmap for unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), there is a critical need for research examining human interaction with heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. The OSD Roadmap clearly delineates the need to investigate the “appropriate conditions and requirements under which a single pilot would be allowed to control multiple airborne UA (unmanned aircraft) simultaneously.” Toward this end, in this paper, we provide a meta-analysis of research studies across unmanned aerial and ground vehicle domains that investigated single operator control of multiple vehicles. As a result, a hierarchical control model for single operator control of multiple unmanned vehicles (UV) is proposed that demonstrates those requirements that will need to be met for operator cognitive support of multiple UV control, with an emphasis on the introduction of higher levels of autonomy. The challenge in achieving effective management of multiple UV systems in the future is not only to determine whether automation can be used to improve human and system performance, but how and to what degree across hierarchical control loops, as well as determining the types of decision support that will be needed by operators given the high-workload environment. We address when and how increasing levels of automation should be incorporated in multiple UV systems and discuss the impact on not only human performance, but more importantly, on system performance. This research is partially funded by the Office of Naval Research. 2014-09-23T20:26:39Z 2014-09-23T20:26:39Z 2007 Article http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90285 Cummings, M.L., Bruni, S., Mercier, S., & Mitchell P.J. Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control, The International Command and Control Journal, Vol. 1(2), 2007. application/pdf The International Command and Control Journal
spellingShingle multiple unmanned aerial vehicles
supervisory control
operator capacity
Cummings, M. L.
Bruni, S.
Mercier, S.
Mitchell, P. J.
Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title_full Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title_fullStr Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title_full_unstemmed Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title_short Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control,
title_sort automation architecture for single operator multiple uav command and control
topic multiple unmanned aerial vehicles
supervisory control
operator capacity
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90285
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AT mitchellpj automationarchitectureforsingleoperatormultipleuavcommandandcontrol