With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 36 licensed pilots flew both single-UAV and dual-UAV simulated military missions. Pilots were required to navigate each UAV through a series of mission legs in one of the following three conditions: a baseline condition, an auditory autoalert condition, and an autopilot condition. Pilots were responsible for (a) mission completion, (b) target search, and (c) systems monitoring. Results revealed that both the autoalert and the autopilot automation improved overall performance by reducing task interference and alleviating workload. The autoalert system benefited performance both in the automated task and mission completion task, whereas the autopilot system benefited performance in the automated task, the mission completion task, and the target search task. Practical implications for the study include the suggestion that reliable automation can help alleviate task interference and reduce workload, thereby allowing pilots to better handle concurrent tasks during single- and multiple-UAV flight control.
Thirty-two undergraduate pilots from the University of Illinois School of Aviation performed simulated military reconnaissance missions with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Pilots were required to: a) navigate the UAV through a series of mission legs, b) search for possible targets of opportunity, and c) monitor system health. They performed the missions under three types of auditory auto-alert aids (a 100% reliable system, a 67% reliable system with automation false alarms, and a 67% reliable system with automation misses), as well as a non-automated baseline condition. Results indicate that while reliable automation can benefit performance relative to baseline in the automated task, the unreliable automation aids reduced performance to that of baseline or worse. The automation false alarms and misses harmed performance in qualitatively different ways, with false alarm prone automation appearing to cause more damage than miss prone automation to both the automated task and the concurrent target search task.
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