Operator Choice Modeling for Collaborative UAV Visual Search Tasks

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide unprecedented access to imagery of possible ground targets of interest in real time. The availability of this imagery is expected to increase with envisaged future missions of one operator controlling multiple UAVs. This research investigates decision models that can be used to develop assistive decision support for UAV operators involved in these complex search missions. Previous human-in-the-loop experiments have shown that operator detection probabilities may decay with increased search time. Providing the operators with the ability to requeue difficult images with the option of relooking at targets later was hypothesized to help operators improve their search accuracy. However, it was not well understood how mission performance could be impacted by operators performing requeues with multiple UAVs. This work extends a queuing model of the human operator by developing a retrial queue model (ReQM) that mathematically describes the use of relooks. We use ReQM to generate performance predictions through discrete event simulation. We validate these predictions through a human-in-the-loop experiment that evaluates the impact of requeuing on a simulated multiple-UAV mission. Our results suggest that, while requeuing can improve detection accuracy and decrease mean search times, operators may need additional decision support to use relooks effectively.Michigan/AFRL Collaborative Center in Control ScienceUnited States. Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-07-1-0230

A Single Operator Implementation of Task Based Multiple Unmanned Vehicle

ABSTRACT−Automation has greatly reduced operator workload and generally enhanced safety in supervisory control settings. There has recently been a significant amount of activity in developing supervisory control algorithms for multiple unmanned vehicle operation by a single operator. In the both military and commercial sectors there has been significant research and development in the field of unmanned vehicles. The objective of this paper is use to control multiple UV's using single operator by RESCHU software. RESCHU (Research Environment for Supervisory Control of Homogeneous Unmanned vehicles) which allows a single operator have the ability to control multiple UVs. This paper approaches two methods namely Vehicle-Based control (where a single operator individually assigns tasks to unmanned assets) and Task-Based control (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 proposed framework incorporates (i) sensor constraints, such as processing/travel time, and (ii) task constraints, such as prioritization. These results have implications for the design of future human-UV systems, as well as more general multiple task supervisory control models

Imaging Tasks Scheduling for High-Altitude Airship in Emergency Condition Based on Energy-Aware Strategy

Aiming to the imaging tasks scheduling problem on high-altitude airship in emergency condition, the programming models are constructed by analyzing the main constraints, which take the maximum task benefit and the minimum energy consumption as two optimization objectives. Firstly, the hierarchy architecture is adopted to convert this scheduling problem into three subproblems, that is, the task ranking, value task detecting, and energy conservation optimization. Then, the algorithms are designed for the sub-problems, and the solving results are corresponding to feasible solution, efficient solution, and optimization solution of original problem, respectively. This paper makes detailed introduction to the energy-aware optimization strategy, which can rationally adjust airship’s cruising speed based on the distribution of task’s deadline, so as to decrease the total energy consumption caused by cruising activities. Finally, the application results and comparison analysis show that the proposed strategy and algorithm are effective and feasible

Decision making in sports: An investigation of 12 to 19 years old basketball players in Singapore

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH