Title: Development of a Safety Monitoring Display to Support Oversight of Multiple Small Size Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Operating Autonomously at Low Altitudes
Speaker: Max Friedrich, Visiting Researcher, NIA
Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Time: 10:00am
Location: NIA, Room 101
Host: Steven D. Young, NASA/LaRC
Abstract: A display to support oversight of multiple small size unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) operating autonomously at low altitudes was developed. The display visualizes system states of all sUAS under control, enabling one operator to oversee multiple sUAS simultaneously.
The first goal was to determine which information an operator needs in order to gain an adequate awareness of the situation while overseeing multiple sUAS. For this purpose an abstraction hierarchy was developed. The abstraction hierarchy visualizes the functions that need to be executed in order to operate a sUAS at low altitudes. Next, specific system parameters that give information about the respective functions included in the abstraction hierarchy were specified. Furthermore, system states as well as system parameter specific threshold values for differentiating between system states were defined.
In order to visualize system states, function specific icons were designed. The icons are arranged in a matrix format. Columns represent the different sUAS, rows represent functions. A row thus consists of multiple identical icons, each representing the same function for a different sUAS. Color is used to differentiate between system states. Detailed information on function specific system parameters are displayed in a separate widget. The display concept is currently being evaluated by subject matter experts.
Bio: Max Friedrich is currently working on his PhD at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). His PhD focuses on the design of a human machine interface for safety monitoring of multiple unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Since September 2015 Max holds a Master of Science in psychology from the Technical University of Braunschweig.