Augmenting camera images for operators of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
conference paper
The manual control of the camera of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be difficult due to several factors such as 1) time delays between steering input and changes of the monitor content, 2) low update rates of the camera images and 3) lack of situation awareness due to the remote position of the operator and the small field of view of the camera images. Therefore, it is important to assist the operator with adequate tools. We constructed and evaluated a perspective (3D) digital map with information about the predicted viewing direction of the camera. In an experiment, participants inspected roads and edges of wood with and without the 3D map. A 2D map with the same information as the 3D map was available in all conditions. With the 3D map, the participants: 1) were able to inspect larger areas, especially when the task became more difficult due to time delays and low update rates, 2) were better able to perform an additional task, and 3) reported lower workload compared to the condition without the 3D map. These subjective workload results were not supported by objective (physiological) workload measures. Analysis of eye movements showed that the 3D map was used very frequently, especially in conditions with time delays and low update rates.
Topics
TNO Identifier
12570
Source title
NATO / RTO HFM symposium on 'The Role of Humans in Intelligent and Automated Systems' held in Warsaw, Poland, 7-9 October 2002. NATO, 2003. (RTO-MP-088)
Pages
1 - 10
Files
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