Human Factors Contributions to the Development of Standards for Displays of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Support of Detect-and-Avoid

Abstract

Objective: The aim is to provide a high-level synthesis of human factors research that contributed to the development of detect-and-avoid display requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Background: The integration of UAS into the U.S. National Airspace System is a priority under the Federal Aviation Administration’s Modernization and Reform Act. For UAS to have routine access to the National Airspace System, UAS must have detect-and-avoid capabilities. One human factors challenge is to determine how to display information effectively to remote pilots for performing detect-and-avoid tasks. Method: A high-level review of research informing the display requirements for UAS detect-and-avoid is provided. In addition, description of the contributions of human factors researchers in the writing of the requirements is highlighted. Results: Findings from human-in-the-loop simulations are used to illustrate how evidence-based guidelines and requirements were established for the display of information to assist pilots in performing detect-and-avoid. Implications for human factors are discussed. Conclusion: Human factors researchers and engineers made many contributions to generate the data used to justify the detect-and-avoid display requirements. Human factors researchers must continue to be involved in the development of standards to ensure that requirements are evidence-based and take into account human operator performance and human factors principles and guidelines. Application: The research presented in this paper is relevant to the design of UAS, the writing of standards and requirements, and the work in human–systems integration.