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An Evaluation of Detect and Avoid (DAA) Displays for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: The Effect of Information Level and Display Location on Pilot PerformanceA consortium of government, industry and academia is currently working to establish minimum operational performance standards for Detect and Avoid (DAA) and Control and Communications (C2) systems in order to enable broader integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). One subset of these performance standards will need to address the DAA display requirements that support an acceptable level of pilot performance. From a pilot's perspective, the DAA task is the maintenance of self separation and collision avoidance from other aircraft, utilizing the available information and controls within the Ground Control Station (GCS), including the DAA display. The pilot-in-the-loop DAA task requires the pilot to carry out three major functions: 1) detect a potential threat, 2) determine an appropriate resolution maneuver, and 3) execute that resolution maneuver via the GCS control and navigation interface(s). The purpose of the present study was to examine two main questions with respect to DAA display considerations that could impact pilots' ability to maintain well clear from other aircraft. First, what is the effect of a minimum (or basic) information display compared to an advanced information display on pilot performance? Second, what is the effect of display location on UAS pilot performance? Two levels of information level (basic, advanced) were compared across two levels of display location (standalone, integrated), for a total of four displays. The authors propose an eight-stage pilot-DAA interaction timeline from which several pilot response time metrics can be extracted. These metrics were compared across the four display conditions. The results indicate that the advanced displays had faster overall response times compared to the basic displays, however, there were no significant differences between the standalone and integrated displays. Implications of the findings on understanding pilot performance on the DAA task, the development of DAA display performance standards, as well as the need for future research are discussed.
Document ID
20150018045
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Fern, Lisa
(San Jose State Univ. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Rorie, R. Conrad
(San Jose State Univ. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Pack, Jessica S.
(Infoscitex Corp. Dayton, OH, United States)
Shively, R. Jay
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Draper, Mark H.
(Air Force Research Lab. Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
September 17, 2015
Publication Date
June 22, 2015
Subject Category
Research And Support Facilities (Air)
Behavioral Sciences
Avionics And Aircraft Instrumentation
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN23779
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference
Location: Dallas, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: June 22, 2015
End Date: June 25, 2015
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX12AB08A
WBS: WBS 425425.04.02.01.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
detect and avoid
unmanned aircraft systems
traffic display
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