EFFECTS OF UAV SUPERVISORY CONTROL ON F-18 FORMATION FLIGHT PERFORMANCE IN A

SIMULATOR ENVIRONMENTLCDR Eric McMullen

MAJ Shane Grass

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Ji-Hyun Yang Co-Advisor: Dr. Quinn Kennedy

Second Reader: Dr. Joseph Sullivan

Outline

• Background • Pilot Study• Hypotheses• Experiment

– Participants– Equipment– Design

• Results– Data Formatting– Data Filtering– Statistics

• Future Work• Q&A 2

Background

• Distractions degrading task performance has been researched in numerous studies, but rarely concerning secondary tasks while flying military aircraft.

• Noted study by Strayer, Drews, & Couch (2006) investigated the effects of cell phone use while driving– Compared effects to intoxication– Frequently cited in Crew Resource

Management Instructors’ course for Naval Aviators

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Pilot Study

Conducted proof of concept in HF of System Design

4

Inter-plane Following Distance

Hypotheses

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the following questions:

• What is the difference in performance of the primary flight task when performing a traditional secondary task versus a potential future UAV supervisory task?

• Does pilot experience and proficiency/currency indicate their primary task performance when performing a future secondary task?

• (EXPLORATORY) What is the difference in physiological measures such as heart rate, respiration rate, and posture when performing the traditional versus future secondary tasks?

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NAS Lemoore

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Participants

– Aviators from NAS Lemoore operational squadrons– CAT II-IV qualified (moderate to high experience)

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26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 3901234567

Age of Subjects

Years

Subj

ects

400800

12001600

20002400

28003200

0

2

4

6

8

10

Total F-18 Time

Up to (hours)

Subj

ects

400800

12001600

20002400

28003200

0

2

4

6

8

10

Total Flight Time

Up to (hours)

Subj

ects

Median Mean SD

Equipment

• Primary Task Simulators : F-18 Tactical Operational Flight Trainers (TOFTs)

• Semi-Autonomous Wingman Supervisory Interface (SAWSI)

• BioHarness

8

F-18 Tactical Operational Flight Trainer (TOFT)

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Semi-Autonomous Wingman Supervisory Interface (SAWSI)

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Cockpit Configuration

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BioHarness

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Records Heartrate, Respiratory Rate, Posture, and Skin Conductance

Design

• Planned for 40 participants• 3 Scripted Tasks with a practice session

– Baseline (no secondary task)– Traditional (w/Air-Ground task)– Futuristic (w/UAV task using SAWSI)

• Length– Each session 5 minutes long (~20 min sim period)– ~ 1 hr/participant total

• Simplified Randomization – Group A: B, T, F– Group B: B, F, T

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Primary Task - Parade Position

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Parade Position Inter-plane Following Distance

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Scenario Brief & Traditional Task

1650nm

Semi-Autonomous Wingman Supervisory Interface (SAWSI)

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SAWSI

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SAWSI

19

SAWSI

20

SAWSI

21

SAWSI

22

SAWSI

23

SAWSI

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Battle Hit Assessment (BHA)

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Future Task

2650nm

Script

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Data Formatting

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Raw Data

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Data Filtering

if (filtering distance == 0)

then use the original following distance value

else, (if original following distance>the filtering distance)

then (if the previous cell following distance > filtering distance)

then use min(the next previous cell’s value, filtering distance)

else use the original following distance.

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Data Filtering

Smoothing Function=IF(AC$3=0,AB9,(IF (AB9> AC$3,IF(AB8>AC$3,MIN(AB7,AC$3),AB8),AB9)))

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FilteringDistance

Raw Data

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Filtered Data

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t-test Results on Filtered Data

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C/D vs E/F Comparison

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C/D

E/F

Filtered Averages by Session

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Perceived Cockpit Workload

Future Work

• Continue analysis of biodata• Factor in performance of secondary task• Study performance in multi-crew aircraft

compared to single pilot• Vary intensity of secondary task

– Increased UAVs– Vary frequency of interaction

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Questions and Answers

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