A review of human factors research performed from 2014 to 2017 in support of the Royal Canadian Air Force remotely piloted aircraft system project

Abstract

Remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPASs) are tools for military organizations to help remove humans from dangerous situations, and permit operations in severe and inhospitable environments. To support the procurement of an RPAS fleet under Canada’s Strong, Secure, Engaged 2017 defence policy, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) under the RCAF Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) project (subsequently replaced by the RCAF RPAS project) funded Defence Research and Development Canada – Toronto Research Centre to conduct a preliminary investigation of human factors (HF) issues relating to the performance of the crew in the ground control station (GCS) to control a RPAS. This paper presents a review of the RCAF research program conducted between 2014 and 2017 that discusses HF issues in RPAS operations and how training is associated with the HF attributes of decision making, skills/knowledge, and mission preparation. Also, this paper presents a training needs analysis methodology and analysis that identified essential RPAS crew competencies (expressed as the knowledge, skills, and abilities required by each crew member to perform their respective tasks). Finally, this paper discusses work that investigated experimentation and evaluation capabilities to support RPAS operator training and GCS airworthiness certification.