Going Farther with Manned-Unmanned Teaming

Aurora Flight Sciences is building a human-machine interface that dynamically adapts presented information to the user’s unique needs.

As the use of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) in defense operations continues to grow, human pilots will oversee an increasing number of drone teammates. To maximize safety and effectiveness, the cognitive demands of such operations will need to be carefully managed. Aurora Fight Sciences, a Boeing company, is developing an intelligent human-machine interface (HMI) that uses autonomy to adapt the timing and content of information presented to a human operator based on the urgency of the information and the human’s cognitive capacity in the moment.

The project, called FARSIGHT (Flexible Adaptations to Remote Supervisory Interfaces for Generalizable Human-autonomy Teams), is part of an internal Aurora program to invest in employee innovation and encourage employees to explore new ideas. A range of new technologies have been developed through the program, not only in autonomy, but also in sustainable manufacturing, rapid prototyping, and more.

With FARSIGHT, Aurora has taken on the challenge of creating autonomous systems that know about and respond appropriately to human cognition. FARSIGHT builds upon Aurora’s work in cognitive inference, where engineers use Aurora’s flight simulation lab and noninvasive sensors, such as eye trackers and heart rate monitors, to develop algorithms that estimate a pilot’s workload, fatigue, and situational awareness. The FARSIGHT HMI has been tested in a smart chair virtual reality environment and in a desktop processor-in-the-loop simulation.

“FARSIGHT is advancing the future of human-machine teaming,” said Sildomar Monteiro, autonomy group manager at Aurora. “Until now, we haven’t given autonomous systems information about their human teammates. With FARSIGHT, autonomous systems can moderate communication based on their human counterpart’s readiness to accept it. This more closely approximates how humans interact with each other and improves the functionality of the team.”

Well-functioning partnerships between humans and machines can create better outcomes compared to either acting alone. A human-machine team can improve safety and accomplish more complex missions, increasing the number, breadth, or duration of tasks that can be completed. By allowing humans to work with autonomous teammates more naturally, FARSIGHT can enable one pilot to supervise a larger team of uncrewed aircraft, either from a ground station or as autonomous wingmen in-flight, while maintaining optimal performance.