Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2014
Publication Title
IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems
Abstract
There has recently been a significant amount of activity in developing supervisory control algorithms for multiple unmanned aerial vehicle operation by a single operator. While previous work has demonstrated the favorable impacts that arise in the introduction of increasingly sophisticated autonomy algorithms, little work has performed an explicit comparison of different types of multiple unmanned vehicle control architectures on operator performance and workload. This paper compares a vehicle-based paradigm (where a single operator individually assigns tasks to unmanned assets) to a task-based paradigm (where the operator generates a task list, which is then given to the group of vehicles that determine how to best divide the tasks among themselves.) The results demonstrate significant advantages in using a task-based paradigm for both overall performance and robustness to increased workload. This effort also demonstrated that while previous video gaming experience mattered for performance, the degree of experience that demonstrated benefit was minimal. Further work should focus on designing a flexible automated system that allows operators to focus on a primary goal, but also facilitate lower level control when needed without degradation in performance.
Keywords
Autonomy, centralized, decentralized, drones, human performance, scheduling, unmanned vehicles (UVs), video gaming
Volume
44
Issue
3
First Page
353
Last Page
361
DOI
10.1109/THMS.2014.2304962
Recommended Citation
Cummings, Mary L.; Bertuccelli, Luca F.; Macbeth, Jamie C.; and Surana, Amit, "Task Versus Vehicle-based Control Paradigms in Multiple Unmanned Vehicle Supervision by a Single Operator" (2014). Computer Science: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/csc_facpubs/365
Comments
Archived as published. Open access article.