"person to purpose" manpower architecture applied to a highly autonomous UAS cloud

Abstract

Studies indicate that "cloud" based concepts will provide benefits by maximising the availability of capability, reducing redundancy and permitting efficiencies in operation and deployment of effect. To deploy the cloud will require many problems to be solved. This paper examines automation applied to the cloud and builds on substantial work looking at command abstraction of users and consumers interacting with systems. The work retains the absolute authority of the human supervisor. Data is presented of a recent trial which immersed serving military personnel, exercising both manned and unmanned systems within a synthetic environment, whilst divorcing operators from platform ownership and concentrating instead on task ownership (thus linking person to purpose). Baseline systems were compared with systems possessing higher degrees of automation and tool functionality. The results are discussed and the key conclusions show clear benefits to operating in the person to purpose manner. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.