scholarly journals Quantifying situation awareness for small unmanned aircraft

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (1251) ◽  
pp. 733-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. McAree ◽  
J.M. Aitken ◽  
S.M. Veres
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Human Operator ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Future Assessment ◽  
Board Decision Making ◽  
High Level ◽  
Awareness System

ABSTRACTA novel statistical model is presented to quantify situation awareness in the operation of small civilian Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Today, the vast majority of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operation takes place under Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) of a human operator, who is wholly responsible for the safety of the flight. As operation begins to move to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), it is likely that this responsibility will become shared between operator and the increasingly autonomous UAS itself. Before we seek to quantify the safety of such a system, it is beneficial to analyse the safety of existing Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations to provide a target level of safety. Prior to considering any on-board decision making, it is essential to ensure that the artificial situation awareness system of a UAS in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) is at least as good as awareness of a human operator. The paper provides a probabilistic theory and model for the high-level abstractions of situation awareness to guide future assessment of BVLOS operations.

scholarly journals Human Factors Contributions to the Development of Standards for Displays of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Support of Detect-and-Avoid

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim-Phuong L. Vu ◽  
Robert Conrad Rorie ◽  
Lisa Fern ◽  
Robert Jay Shively
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
National Airspace System ◽  
Human In The Loop ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Human Systems Integration ◽  
High Level ◽  
Evidence Based Guidelines

Objective The aim is to provide a high-level synthesis of human factors research that contributed to the development of detect-and-avoid display requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Background The integration of UAS into the U.S. National Airspace System is a priority under the Federal Aviation Administration’s Modernization and Reform Act. For UAS to have routine access to the National Airspace System, UAS must have detect-and-avoid capabilities. One human factors challenge is to determine how to display information effectively to remote pilots for performing detect-and-avoid tasks. Method A high-level review of research informing the display requirements for UAS detect-and-avoid is provided. In addition, description of the contributions of human factors researchers in the writing of the requirements is highlighted. Results Findings from human-in-the-loop simulations are used to illustrate how evidence-based guidelines and requirements were established for the display of information to assist pilots in performing detect-and-avoid. Implications for human factors are discussed. Conclusion Human factors researchers and engineers made many contributions to generate the data used to justify the detect-and-avoid display requirements. Human factors researchers must continue to be involved in the development of standards to ensure that requirements are evidence-based and take into account human operator performance and human factors principles and guidelines. Application The research presented in this paper is relevant to the design of UAS, the writing of standards and requirements, and the work in human–systems integration.

scholarly journals Reliable Long-Range Multi-Link Communication for Unmanned Search and Rescue Aircraft Systems in Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operation

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Johannes Güldenring ◽  
Philipp Gorczak ◽  
Fabian Eckermann ◽  
Manuel Patchou ◽  
Janis Tiemann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cellular Networks ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Reliable Communication ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Single Link

With the increasing availability of unmanned aircraft systems, their usage for search and rescue is close at hand. Especially in the maritime context, aerial support can yield significant benefits. This article proposes and evaluates the concept of combining multiple cellular networks for highly reliable communication with those aircraft systems. The proposed approach is experimentally validated in several unprecedented large-scale experiments in the maritime context. It is found that in this scenario, conventional methods do not suffice for reliable connectivity to the aircraft with significantly varying overall availabilities between 68% and 97%. The underlying work, however, overcomes the limitations of single-link connectivity by providing availability of up to 99.8% in the analyzed scenarios. Therefore, the approach and the experimental data presented in this work yield a solid contribution to search and rescue drones. All results and flight recording data sets are published along with this article to enable future related work and studies, external reproduction, and validation of the underlying results and findings.

scholarly journals MODELLING STEEP SURFACES BY VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS OF NADIR AND OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

2016 ◽  
Vol III-1 ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Casella ◽  
M. Franzini
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Control Points ◽  
Careful Monitoring ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Aerial Photogrammetry ◽  
Check Points ◽  
Reconstructed Surface ◽  
High Level

Among the parts of the territory requiring periodical and careful monitoring, many have steep surfaces: quarries, river basins, land-slides, dangerous mountainsides. Aerial photogrammetry based on lightweight unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is rapidly becoming the tool of election to survey limited areas of land with a high level of detail. Aerial photogrammetry is traditionally based on vertical images and only recently the use of significantly inclined imagery has been considered. Oblique photogrammetry presents peculiar aspects and offers improved capabilities for steep surface reconstruction. Full comprehension of oblique photogrammetry still requires research efforts and the evaluation of diverse case studies. In the present paper, the focus is on the photogrammetric UAS-based survey of a part of a large sandpit. Various flight configurations are considered: ordinary linear strips, radial strips (as the scarp considered has a semi-circular shape) and curved ones; moreover, nadir looking and oblique image blocks were acquired. Around 300 control points were measured with a topographic total station. The various datasets considered are evaluated in terms of density of the extracted point cloud and in terms of the distance between the reconstructed surface and a number of check points.

scholarly journals Human Machine Interface Design for Monitoring Safety Risks Associated with Operating Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Urban Areas

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Max Friedrich ◽  
Mark Vollrath
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Human Operator ◽  
Display Design ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
System States ◽  
Core Idea

The envisioned introduction of autonomous Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) into low-altitude urban airspace necessitates high levels of system safety. Despite increased system autonomy, humans will most likely remain an essential component in assuring safety. This paper derives, applies, and evaluates a display design concept that aims to support safety risk monitoring of multiple sUAS by a human operator. The concept comprises of five design principles. The core idea of the concept is to limit display complexity despite increasing the number of sUAS monitored by primarily visualizing highly abstracted information while hiding detailed information of lower abstraction, unless specifically requested by the human operator. States of highly abstracted functions are visualized by function-specific icons that change hue in accordance to specified system states. Simultaneously, the design concept aims to support the human operator in identifying off-nominal situations by implementing design properties that guide visual attention. The display was evaluated in a study with seven subject matter experts. Although preliminary, the results clearly favor the proposed display design concept. The advantages of the proposed design concept are demonstrated, and the next steps for further exploring the proposed display design concept are outlined.

scholarly journals MODELLING STEEP SURFACES BY VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS OF NADIR AND OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

2016 ◽  
Vol III-1 ◽  
pp. 175-182
Author(s):  
V. Casella ◽  
M. Franzini
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Control Points ◽  
Careful Monitoring ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Aerial Photogrammetry ◽  
Check Points ◽  
Reconstructed Surface ◽  
High Level

Among the parts of the territory requiring periodical and careful monitoring, many have steep surfaces: quarries, river basins, land-slides, dangerous mountainsides. Aerial photogrammetry based on lightweight unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is rapidly becoming the tool of election to survey limited areas of land with a high level of detail. Aerial photogrammetry is traditionally based on vertical images and only recently the use of significantly inclined imagery has been considered. Oblique photogrammetry presents peculiar aspects and offers improved capabilities for steep surface reconstruction. Full comprehension of oblique photogrammetry still requires research efforts and the evaluation of diverse case studies. In the present paper, the focus is on the photogrammetric UAS-based survey of a part of a large sandpit. Various flight configurations are considered: ordinary linear strips, radial strips (as the scarp considered has a semi-circular shape) and curved ones; moreover, nadir looking and oblique image blocks were acquired. Around 300 control points were measured with a topographic total station. The various datasets considered are evaluated in terms of density of the extracted point cloud and in terms of the distance between the reconstructed surface and a number of check points.

scholarly journals High-Level Mission Specification and Planning for Collaborative Unmanned Aircraft Systems Using Delegation

2013 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 75-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Doherty ◽  
Fredrik Heintz ◽  
Jonas Kvarnström
Keyword(s):  
Automatic Generation ◽  
Specification Language ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ◽  
Aircraft Systems ◽  
Formal Framework ◽  
Air Vehicle ◽  
Human Operators ◽  
Mission Specification ◽  
High Level

Automated specification, generation and execution of high level missions involving one or more heterogeneous unmanned aircraft systems is in its infancy. Much previous effort has been focused on the development of air vehicle platforms themselves together with the avionics and sensor subsystems that implement basic navigational skills. In order to increase the degree of autonomy in such systems so they can successfully participate in more complex mission scenarios such as those considered in emergency rescue that also include ongoing interactions with human operators, new architectural components and functionalities will be required to aid not only human operators in mission planning, but also the unmanned aircraft systems themselves in the automatic generation, execution and partial verification of mission plans to achieve mission goals. This article proposes a formal framework and architecture based on the unifying concept of delegation that can be used for the automated specification, generation and execution of high-level collaborative missions involving one or more air vehicles platforms and human operators. We describe an agent-based software architecture, a temporal logic-based mission specification language, a distributed temporal planner and a task specification language that when integrated provide a basis for the generation, instantiation and execution of complex collaborative missions on heterogeneous air vehicle systems. A prototype of the framework is operational in a number of autonomous unmanned aircraft systems developed in our research lab.

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