Organization responsible: Thales Research & Technology Netherlands

People involved:

• Matthijs Amelink (coordinator)
• Bob Mulder (Delft University of Technology, promotor)
• Max Mulder (Delft University of Technology, co-promotor)
• René van Paassen (Delft University of Technology, co-promotor)
• John Flach (Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, USA)

Project description:

This research project comprises a case study of applying Cognitive Systems Engineering to the design of an autonomous UAV system.
Shaping human-machine collaboration through (a) the design of automation and levels of autonomy for a UAV system and (b) the design of interfacing the operators with the (partly) autonomous UAV

UAVs are exemplary for complex automated systems. The next generation of UAV systems will be highly autonomous. Advances in computer technology and computing power offer a vast array of techniques to automate, make autonomous and even make intelligent. Despite of an expected high degree of autonomy in the next generation of UAV systems, the fully autonomous UAV still belongs to the distant future. In the near future, the human operator will still be present to introduce adaptability and problem solving capabilities to the system. In this setting, where the human actor needs to effectively collaborate with an increasingly intelligent agent (or agents).

As technology becomes more complex it increases the overall complexity of the work domain. Highly automated systems suffer from automation induced complexity when the automation is inadvertently adding to the complexity of the operator’s work domain. Modern computer technologies offer a virtually unlimited degrees of freedom for automating with the potential for increasing complexity or limiting complexity. Automation design and interface design go hand in hand. A design paradigm is needed to ensure that automation induced complexity is limited to a as small as possible share in overall system complexity. The design of automation and interface that fosters effective collaboration between actors and agents in complex systems is paramount.

Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) can best be described as a research field that combines cognitive psychology, engineering and computer science to achieve design principles for better human interfacing with complex systems. This research proposes CSE design principles as a solution to the formulated problem. By literature review and a case study of the design of Total Energy Control System (TECS) for the Condor UAV, CSE principles are selected for the design of the automation control concepts for the mini UAV system. This approach to automation design has been labelled “Ecological Automation Design”.

Publications: