Abstract

The objective of this research is to inform the design of dynamic interfaces to optimize unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operator reliance on automation. A broad goal of the U.S. military is to improve the ratio of UAV operators to UAVs controlled. Accomplishing this goal requires the use of automation; however, the benefits of automation are jeopardized without appropriate operator reliance. To improve reliance on automation, this effort sought to accomplish several objectives organized into phases. The first phase aimed to validate metrics that could be used to gauge operator fatigue online, to understand how the reliability of automated systems influences subjective and objective responses, and to understand how the impact of automation reliability changes with different levels of fatigue. To that end, this study employed a multiple UAV simulation containing several tasks. Findings for a challenging Image Analysis task indicated a decrease in accuracy and reliance with time. Both accuracy and reliance were lower with an unreliable automated decision making aid (60% reliability) than with a reliable automated decision making aid (86.7% reliability). Further, a significant interaction indicated that reliance diminished more quickly when the automated aid was less reliable. Concerning the identification of possible eye tracking measures for fatigue, metrics for percentage of eye closure (PERCLOS), blinks, fixations, and dwell time registered changes with time on task. Fixation metrics registered reliability differences. The second phase sought to use outcomes from the first phase to build two algorithms, based on eye tracking, to drive continuous diagnostic monitoring, one simple and another complex. These algorithms were intended to diagnose the passive fatigue state of UAV operators and used subjective task engagement as the dependent variable. The simple algorithm used PERCLOS and total dwell time within the automated tasking area. The complex algorithm added percent of cognitive fixations and frequency of express fixations. The complex algorithm successfully predicted task engagement, primarily on the strength of percentage of cognitive fixations and express fixation frequency metrics.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Matthews, Gerald

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Degree Program

Modeling and Simulation

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006548

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006548

Language

English

Release Date

November 2021

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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