Improving Human Ground Control Performance in Unmanned Aerial Systems

Marianna Di Gregorio, Marco Romano, Monica Sebillo, Giuliana Vitiello and Angela Vozella
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Marianna Di Gregorio: Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, 84040 Fisciano, Italy
Marco Romano: Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, 84040 Fisciano, Italy
Monica Sebillo: Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, 84040 Fisciano, Italy
Giuliana Vitiello: Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, 84040 Fisciano, Italy
Angela Vozella: Italian Aerospace Research Center, 81043 Capua, Italy

Future Internet, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly called drones, is growing enormously today. Applications that can benefit from the use of fleets of drones and a related human–machine interface are emerging to ensure better performance and reliability. In particular, a fleet of drones can become a valuable tool for monitoring a wide area and transmitting relevant information to the ground control station. We present a human–machine interface for a Ground Control Station used to remotely operate a fleet of drones, in a collaborative setting, by a team of multiple operators. In such a collaborative setting, a major interface design challenge has been to maximize the Team Situation Awareness, shifting the focus from the individual operator to the entire group decision-makers. We were especially interested in testing the hypothesis that shared displays may improve the team situation awareness and hence the overall performance. The experimental study we present shows that there is no difference in performance between shared and non-shared displays. However, in trials when unexpected events occurred, teams using shared displays-maintained good performance whereas in teams using non-shared displays performance reduced. In particular, in case of unexpected situations, operators are able to safely bring more drones home, maintaining a higher level of team situational awareness.

Keywords: unmanned aerial systems; user centered design; situation awareness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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