A Situational Awareness Tool for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Abstract

With the emergence of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the video payloads now available onboard, real-time surveillance of dynamic situations is now possible. Air Force commanders are often required to make critical decisions during these dynamic situations based on limited information. In order to increase the situational awareness of commanders, we have developed a prototype UAV Situational Awareness Tool. This tool will connect the commander in a command center to an operational UAV in the field. The prototype tool we have developed is based on a Geographic Information System (GIS) displaying a map of the situation area along with a video feed from the UAV. By displaying the location of the UAV on the GIS map along with the video feed from the UAV, commanders will have a bird's eye view of dynamic situations. Using this tool in a command center during exercises will increase the situational awareness of Air Force Commanders. In his concept paper [1], Harper describes a dynamic situation that includes two separate emergency events occurring on the Air Force Academy. As the base commander responses to these events, it is imperative to have accurate, real-time data about the situations. By combining existing technologies in GIS systems, UAV video feeds, and networking technology, our prototype tool provides the commander a real-time video feed from a single UAV. This video feed provides the commander real-time visual information that will greatly increase his/her situational awareness. This prototype tool addresses Harper?s concept paper [1] and provides an initial capability for response to these types of situations. Research Objectives Display a UAV icon in a GIS Application The first objective is to build a GIS application that interfaces with the UAV's onboard autopilot.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA496138

Entities

People

  • Clint H. Sparkman
  • Ricky E. Sward
  • Stephen D. Cooper

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Command Centers
  • Computer Science
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Ground Control Stations
  • Information Systems
  • Network Protocols
  • Operating Systems
  • Situational Awareness
  • United States Air Force Academy
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Vehicles
  • Video Signals

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Aerial Unmanned Vehicle Swarm Micro Periodontal Dentistry.
  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs