Team Performance Metrics for Command and Control of Unmanned Systems Navy SBIR FY2012.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.2 Topic No.: N122-137 Topic Title: Team Performance Metrics for Command and Control of Unmanned Systems Proposal No.: N122-137-0142 Firm: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation 9950 Wakeman Drive Manassas, Virginia 20110 Contact: Raghvendra Cowlagi Phone: (617) 229-6810 Web Site: www.aurora.aero Abstract: The primary objective of the proposed research is to develop, and to demonstrate the feasibility of a mathematically rigorous approach for modeling and evaluating human supervisory control of multiple unmanned and/or autonomous vehicles. This high-level objective is decomposed into three inter-related goals: (1) the development of a mathematical model of human supervisory control, for individual operators as well as for cooperative teams of operators, (2) the study of team performance metrics induced by comparing the team's operation and the overall system operation against baseline operations, with all of these operations represented quantitatively using the aforesaid models, and (3) the identification of diagnostic information from these induced metrics and the identification of feedback information from these metrics for improving the performance of the team of operators. A secondary objective of the proposed work is to develop a framework that enables clear and precise definitions of the concepts of futuristic operations, such that this definition directly influences various elements within the models - and, by consequence, the induced metrics - of supervisory control. Benefits: The proposed technology will find applications to operations involving unmanned vehicle systems commanded by a relatively small team of human operators in two contexts: (a) during the design of such operations, this tool will enable objective and quantitative evaluations of the design, and (2) during the execution of such operations, this tool will enable continuous monitoring of the operations and provide real-time diagnostic information and feedback to the operators to improve the effectiveness of the overall operation. Consequently, there is immediate as well as sustained long-term market for this technology. Because such operations are not in common practice currently, and because fundamental questions about the design and development of such operations - such as the evaluation of an operation, which the tool developed from this program will answer - are currently unanswered, the potential market for this tool is a large emerging market, which is a key opportunity that Aurora seeks to capitalize. Aurora foresees significant investments from major DoD agencies, including the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force in the design and deployment of operations involving a large number of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. In civilian applications, Aurora foresees investments from agencies such as NASA, FAA, and NTSB for the design, deployment, and analysis of future air traffic management systems that will supervise airspace being shared between piloted aircraft, U/PAVs, and optionally piloted aircraft. Furthermore, several nuclear power plants hundreds of warehouse management systems worldwide will involve a small team of humans supervising large numbers of cooperative mobile robots that perform a majority of the physical tasks. The performance metrics and diagnostics tool developed in this program, and adaptations thereof, will be crucial components in all of these military and civilian applications. Return