Publication Date
2008
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Mark Draper (Committee Member), John Flach (Committee Chair), Valerie Shalin (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle assets are in high demand in the theater of operations for supporting the Global War on Terror and this demand is expected to increase. This work involved exploratory case study research into the envisioned world design problem of networked Predator multi-UAV control, as a candidate for meeting higher Predator sortie requirements without the need for a one for one increase in pilots. The concept involves the development of a potential new position for controlling multiple UAVs, called the Multi-Aircraft Manager (MAM). The goal was to analyze work requirements and develop representational models of the structure of this new work domain and develop an initial MAM display design representation (with a temporal emphasis) as a first hypothesis for an iterative program of evaluation and refinement. An additional goal was to discover and document, through this case study, what analysis methods explored helped to inform the design of the display representations. The MAM Tasking and Timeline Display was ecologically designed and mapped from the MAM cognitive work analysis (CWA) as a hypothesis of the work support the MAM will need to perform multi-aircraft management within a Global Unmanned Air System (UAS) work environment. This display includes timeline, status, and workload management vantages intended to complement the traditional geospatial map-based displays used by UAV pilots. This conceptual low fidelity display was used to both further the discussion of MAM among domain practitioners in a concrete way, enrich the work analysis, as well as to gather more display design requirements. The display concept served as an artifact to assist potential future users of MAM displays in envisioning the possibilities for supporting MAM. This is only the first step in an iterative program of evaluation and display refinement research needed for evolving the MAM vision concept and developing advanced human computer interface (HCI) displays in support of MAM.
Page Count
238
Department or Program
Department of Psychology
Year Degree Awarded
2008
Copyright
Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
