Semi-autonomous drone control with safety analysis

Abstract

This paper describes the partial automation of drones (also referred to as uncrewed aerial vehicles, UAVs, or aerial robots) in populated areas within the visual line-of-sight of their pilot. Mission responsiveness is improved by reducing the number of human crew members and avoiding the need for area clearance, while carefully managing the workload of those remaining to ensure no compromise on safety. The work employs a system-centric approach with regard to integrating human and automation tasks based on their capabilities and use of standard procedures, whilst prioritizing the predictability and simplicity of the overall system. Safety claims about the proposed system are posed and rigorously analyzed through a structured safety case. The proposed system is applied to a bridge inspection case study with simulation results and scenario analysis.