Developing Collective Training for Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Employment: Workload and Performance with Multiple Systems

摘要

A research simulation environment was developed to investigate training issues concerning employment of small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) at company and below. The research environment enables simulated platoon missions in a virtual environment in which mounted or dismounted Soldiers control avatars. A person designated as SUAS operator also has the ability to operate a SUAS in the virtual environment. Another person designated as the commander has a command and control tool (C2node), which allows communication and coordination with the SUAS operator (e.g., text messages, mission plans, sensor imagery). Both the operator's control station and the C2node are configurable, to allow investigation of how different features (e.g., providing the C2node with streaming video vs. not) affect mission synchronization and maintenance of a common operational picture. Besides human-controlled avatars, the environment also allows for artificially intelligent non-player characters (NPCs), whose behavior can be scripted via a system of relatively-user friendly menus, prior to a scenario exercise. Experimenters can also take manual control of these NPCs during an exercise. This report describes the capabilities of the environment and an initial experiment providing evidence that users can operate the C2node and an avatar at the same time. The potential for future research application is also discussed.