The power of collaborative systems
The power of collaborative systems
Military forces of the future will use mixed manned and unmanned forces for a broad variety of functions: reconnaissance and surveillance, logistics and support, communications, forward-deployed offensive operations, and as tactical decoys to conceal maneuvers by manned assets. Among the most successful fielded unmanned systems are the SRAs (Small Robotic Assets), both SUAVs (Small Unmanned Air Vehicles) and SUGVs (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles). Recent successes in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown their potential for revolutionizing the way US troops conduct war operations, including spotting and dealing with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), thus saving lives.
There are many essential human factors that need to be optimized for the SRA operators themselves, and there is much R&D work being done to address these issues. Our OSD-ARI SBIR Phase II project to develop Technology for Enhanced Command and Control of Small Robotic Assets (TECRA), however, which we are conducting together with the George Mason University Arch Lab, focuses on the equally important but relatively neglected team performance of the SUAV unit commander and the SUAV operator. It is important to assure that commander-operator team performance is optimized with respect to such key factors as efficient communication, coordinated teamwork, and well distributed workload. This is particularly true as manning considerations make it more likely that one unit commander will control a number of small robotic assets, thus further complicating the team interactions.
Our approach is to create a new and generalizable C2 infrastructure that uses adaptive display technology to enhance the shared situation awareness between the Commander and the Robot Operator, to enhance Commander-Operator communication, and to reduce Commander workload. Our Phase I proof-of-concept demonstrated technical feasibility and user acceptability and also projected a 50% decrease in the Commander’s total task time using a GOMS analysis. Technical validation included a strong endorsement by the US Army Raven Program Office. Our primary objective in Phase II is to develop, implement and demonstrate generalizable TECRA products that can be used near term in the Raven SUAV program and longer term in broad variety of other single and multiple small robot applications.
As part of this effort a completely new and innovative interface has been designed and developed for the SUAV unit commander (see screen shot below). This interface consists of a tri-modal adaptive component display. The three interface modes correspond to common mission tasks of the commander:
Monitor Mode is the default view and allows the commander to watch the UAV’s real time video feed.
Review Mode allows the commander to examine stored imagery of targets and landmarks that have been obtained by the UAV.
Change Mission Mode allows the commander to quickly signal a course change request to the UAV Operator.
The specific TECRA interface components and functionality include:
Area Map. The area map (upper left panel) is synchronized with the vehicle operator’s FalconView, giving a common picture of the authorized airspace, planned route, and areas of interest. Commanders can draw directly on the map for their own use, print off copies for dissemination, or send a marked-up map to the operators for a clear explanation of their intent. Commanders can also create suggested waypoints or routes and submit them to the vehicle operators for review.
Video Feed. The video feed (upper right panel) comes directly from the UAV and presents selected flight data. Commanders can freeze the frame, rewind, fast-forward, or take screenshot images while the mission is underway. The field of view is depicted on the map, not just showing the commander “Where am I?” but also “What am I looking at?”
Mission Timeline. The mission timeline (lower left panel) is able to track multiple vehicles and record events such as waypoints, when photos were taken, and user-created bookmarks for later review.
Saved Media Library. The saved media library (middle left panel) gives easy access to screen captures and video clips, which are sorted and listed in a library of locally stored media. Each image is tied to a geographical location which appears on the map when the image is reviewed.
Message Center. The message center (lower right panel) lets Commanders communicate with their operators through a built-in chat feature that enables users to send and receive queries and updates, as well as coordinates and mark-up symbols.
Toolbar.The toolbar (far right panel) permits editing of both maps and images, with built-in drawing tools. In addition to these tools, the Commander can also save and export new images to external applications.
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