UAS and Manned Aircraft Autonomy

Describe the levels of automation and how they are applied to UAS operations.

According to Marshall et al. (2011), there are several definitions for the level of automation that can be utilized on an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS).  One of these definition separates automation into four classes, information acquisition, information analysis, decision and action selection and action implementation.  What is interesting about this definition is that it mirrors the human cognition, the way we acquire and understand information, and the methods that we use to make decisions.  Another definition presented by Marshall et al. (2011), is a method described by NASA.  This definition utilized the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) process to describe what autonomy must be able to accomplish.  This definition assigned 5-levels to each step of the OODA Loop cycle.  At the lowest level, the entire process is completed by the human operator and at the highest level, the OODA Loop is completed by the UAS itself.

Are there different considerations for manned versus UAS operations when it comes to UAS?

There are several key differences between the use of automation on manned and unmanned aircraft.  The biggest difference is how automation reacts in abnormal or emergency situations.  For unmanned aircraft, automation must be able to control the aircraft in the event of a communication loss between the pilot and the aircraft.  This means that is must be extremely reliable and able to handle the aircraft in just about any situation and make decisions when the pilot is not able to.  However, for manned aircraft the pilot needs to be able to take control extremely quickly.  This became evident for the pilot of Qantas Flight 72 when its automated systems caused the aircraft to go outside of its normal operating parameters and enter an extreme descent.  When this happened, the pilot was completely helpless because the plane was ignoring his control inputs and prioritizing the automations logic above that of the pilots (Sydney Herald, 2017).  While this situation would be bad for manned and unmanned aircraft alike, for manned aircraft there is always a pilot available to take control.  For UAS this is not always the case, and the autopilot needs to take priority when no pilot control is available.

Do you think that the aviation industry currently uses the appropriate amount, too little, or too much automation?

Right now, I think that the aviation industry has just the right amount of automation.  The reason for this is that automation is not yet good enough for planes to fly completely on their own, but it is good enough to prevent pilots from being over task-saturated and to aid them during abnormal situations.  Because automation is not good enough to fly planes completely by itself in all scenarios, it is imperative that pilots maintain proficiency in their skills so that they can react adequately in abnormal and emergency situations.  If automation was to be pushed any further pilots would be manually flying less and thus losing proficiency, potentially increasing risk and the chances for an accident to occur.

References:

Marshall, D. M., Barnhart, R. K., Hottman, S. B., Shappee, E., & Most, M. T. (Eds.). (2011). Introduction to unmanned aircraft systems. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

[The Sydney Morning Herald]. (2017, May 14). When ‘psycho’ automation left this pilot powerless [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watchv=2cSh_Wo_mcY&feature=youtu.be