Measuring UAS Pilot Responses to Common Air Traffic Clearances

The integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS) requires that UAS meet or exceed the safety requirements established for conventional aircraft, and for the UAS pilots to interact with air traffic controllers (ATCos) in an acceptable manner.UAS have several characteristics that differentiate them from conventional aircraft, including the possibility of greater latencies associated with remote pilot communication and command execution. The goal of the present study was to determine how adding delays to UAS pilot communications and command executions affect ATCos' interactions with UAS and conventional aircraft. Six previously certified radar controllers and two currently certified radar controllers were recruited as participants to manage traffic in a simulated sector with conventional traffic and one UAS flying in it. The UAS pilot verbal communication and execution latencies were varied in separate scenarios to include an additional delay that was either short (1.5 s) or long (5 s), and constant or variable within each scenario. We measured both UAS and conventional pilots' verbal communication and execution initiation latencies, and obtained ATCos' acceptability ratings for the different delay conditions. Also examined were the number of communication step-ons created by the additional communication delays implemented in the UAS control station, as well as other measures of the ATCo-pilot interactions. We found ATCos rated UAS pilot verbal communication latencies to be acceptable when the latencies were short rather than long and that acceptability ratings often reflect broader features of the sectors being managed. Implications of these findings for UAS integration in the NAS and limitations of the present study are discussed.

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“…The end-to-end response time of pilots to ATCo verbal commands is known as the "measured response" (MR; Vu et al, 2013;Ziccardi et al, 2013).…”

Section: Purpose Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of UAS Pilot Communication and Execution Latencies on Air Traffic Controllers’ Acceptance of UAS Operations

Chiappe

Morales

et al. 2014

Air Traffic Control Quarterly

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“…ATCos are required to monitor pilot read backs, and to correct pilots if they make a mistake [4]. The end-to-end response time to ATCo clearances is referred to as the "measured response" (MR) [5,6]. This overall response time can be broken down into the following MR components: (1) Pilot verbal communication delay.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of UAS pilot communication and execution delay on controller's acceptability ratings of UAS-ATC interactions

Morales

Chiappe

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE/AIAA 32nd Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)

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Successful integration of UAS in the NAS will require that UAS interactions with the air traffic management system be similar to interactions between manned aircraft and air traffic management. For example, UAS response times to ATCo clearances should be equivalent to those that are currently found to be acceptable with manned aircraft. Prior studies have examined communication delays with manned aircraft. Unfortunately, there is no analogous body of research for UAS. The goal of the present study was to determine how UAS pilot communication and execution delays affect ATCos' acceptability ratings of UAS pilot responses when the UAS is operating in the NAS. Eight radar-certified controllers managed traffic in a modified ZLA sector with one UAS flying in it. In separate scenarios, the UAS pilot verbal communication and execution delays were either short (1.5 s) or long (5 s) and either constant or variable. The ATCo acceptability of UAS pilot communication and execution delays were measured subjectively via post trial ratings. UAS verbal pilot communication delay, were rated as acceptable 92% of the time when the delay was short. This acceptability level decreased to 64% when the delay was long. UAS pilot execution delay had less of an influence on ATCo acceptability ratings in the present stimulation. Implications of these findings for UAS in the NAS integration are discussed.

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