A Study on Workload Assessment and Usability of Wind-Aware User Interface for Small Unmanned Aircraft System Remote Operations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how wind-aware user interfaces affect pilots' workload and awareness during small unmanned aircraft operations, demonstrating that real-time wind info enhances safety and efficiency in simulated environments.

Contribution

It introduces a wind-aware interface for small UAVs and evaluates its impact on pilot workload and awareness under various wind conditions.

Findings

Wind-aware displays improve situational awareness

Real-time wind info reduces cognitive workload

Enhanced safety in UAV operations

Abstract

This study evaluates pilots' cognitive workload and situational awareness during remote small unmanned aircraft system operations in different wind conditions. To complement the urban air mobility concept that envisions safe, sustainable, and accessible air transportation, we conduct multiple experiments in a realistic wind-aware simulator-user interface pipeline. Experiments are performed with basic and wind-aware displays in several wind conditions to assess how complex wind fields impact pilots' cognitive resources. Post-hoc analysis reveals that providing pilots with real-time wind information improves situational awareness while decreasing cognitive workload.