Unmanning UAVs: Addressing challenges in on-board planning and decision making

Narayan, Pritesh Praneet; Wu, Paul P.; Campbell, Duncan A.

Abstract

Planning and decision making, especially the planning of dynamically negotiable collision free paths, is an integral part in the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Effective path planning ensures that the UAV operates safely, and conforms to the rules and regulations governing flight within the National Airspace System (NAS). To demonstrate an Equivalent Level Of Safety (ELOS) to that of piloted aircraft for certification purposes, UAVs must demonstrate a high level of autonomy without a human in the loop. This research surveys the literature as to how human experts perform planning tasks and forms a framework which promotes shared authority of UAV mission (re)planning and path planning, and can adopt sole authority should the UAV communications link fail or the human operator relinquishes decisions. It has been demonstrated through simulation that the optimization of flight manoeuvre sets using multiple objectives allows for convergence to a solution which better represents civilian mission requirements whilst emulating common flight patterns of trained pilots. These initial findings highlight the challenges involved in replicating the skills of human pilots onboard a UAV. It is revealed that UAV planning and decision making is a multi-disciplinary problem that combines the fields of path planning (search optimization), trajectory generation, and human cognition

Citation

Narayan, P. P., Wu, P. P., & Campbell, D. A. (2008, September). Unmanning UAVs: Addressing challenges in on-board planning and decision making. Paper presented at First International Conference on Humans Operating Unmanned Systems HUMOUS'08, Brest, France

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: First International Conference on Humans Operating Unmanned Systems HUMOUS'08
• Conference Location: Brest, France
• Start Date: Sep 3, 2008
• End Date: Sep 4, 2008
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 159-171
• Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV, UAS, human machine, unmanned aerial systems, path, trajectory, planning
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1020616
• Publisher URL: http://conferences.enst-bretagne.fr/humous08/papers/
• Additional Information: Additional Information : The contents of this conference can be freely accessed online via the conference's web page (see hypertext link).; Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : First International Conference on Humans Operating Unmanned Systems HUMOUS'08