An Assessment of Pilot Control Interfaces for Unmanned Aircraft

Abstract

An inventory of control systems for unmanned aircraft was completed for 15 systems from nine separate manufacturers. To complete the inventory, a taxonomy of control architectures was developed. The taxonomy identified four levels of horizontal aircraft control, four levels of vertical control, and three levels of speed control. The most automated level of control was a waypoint-level that was found to be present in all of the systems inventoried. Implications of these levels of control on design are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA465657

Entities

People

  • Kevin W. Williams

Organizations

  • Federal Aviation Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Attitude Indicators
  • Computers
  • Control Panels
  • Control Systems
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • General Aviation Aircraft
  • Line Of Sight
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Standards
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Business Analytics
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Human-Robot Interaction