Towards safe collaboration between autonomous pilots and human crews for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
R. Agbeyibor, V. Ruia, J. Kolb, C. Jimenez Cortes, S. Coogan, K. Feigh
Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 2024
Abstract
Many aviation missions today are accomplished by a heterogeneous crew of pilots and mission specialists. As fully Automated Pilots (AP) are integrated into aviation crews, effective teaming will be necessary for safety assurance and mission effectiveness. This flight simulator study explored teaming between a non-pilot human operator and an AP collaborating on a maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission. The study compared a Waypoint AP behavior, requiring human intervention in aircraft control to prevent overflight of damage-causing enemy ships, with a Collision Avoidance behavior where the AP proactively avoids enemy ships using control barrier functions. This proactive AP behavior resulted in less aircraft damage and more predictable team performance, albeit longer mission times. Results indicate that situation awareness varied with AP complexity level and task load level. Participants perceived positively the AP when it succeeded and calibrated their trust when it failed.