ABSTRACT

Objective: Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) pilots must possess a variety of cognitive skills in order to successfully perform diverse missions. They must accurately assess situations, make judgments and decisions, understand cues that may not be immediately obvious, and develop effective solutions. How may we gain perspective on how UAS pilots make decisions when higher order cognitive skills are needed to solve problems and accomplish their missions?

Background: Previous UAS task analyses, both behavioral and cognitive, have seldom examined experienced, high-hour UAS operators. It is important to know how these pilots address and solve problems to improve training and design. METHOD: The Applied Cognitive Task Analysis method (ACTA) was utilized to define and examine a sampling of the cognitive task requirements of operating a civilian UAS. The task analysis included sixteen UAS journeymen and expert pilots who had between 240 and 2000 + hours of experience. Tasks such as communication, search and rescue mission planning, coping with equipment malfunction, and developing situational awareness of their environment were analyzed.

Result: The analysis produced six task diagrams, which identified key cognitive considerations, captured pilot insights after flying simulated missions, and documented examples where pilots used their expertise to solve operational problems.

Conclusion: This ACTA method and resulting products may contribute to the design of new training courses/programs for novice UAS pilots.

摘要

目标：无人机系统（UAS）飞行员必须具备多种认知技能才能成功执行不同的任务。他们必须准确评估情况，做出判断和决定，了解可能不会立即显现的线索，并制定有效的解决方案。当需要更高阶的认知技能来解决问题和完成任务时，我们如何才能了解 UAS 飞行员如何做出决策？

背景：以前的 UAS 任务分析，包括行为和认知，很少检查有经验的、高时间的 UAS 操作员。了解这些飞行员​​如何解决和解决问题以改进培训和设计非常重要。方法：应用认知任务分析方法 (ACTA) 用于定义和检查操作民用 UAS 的认知任务要求的样本。任务分析包括 16 名 UAS 熟练工和专家飞行员，他们的经验在 240 到 2000 多个小时之间。分析了诸如通信、搜索和救援任务规划、处理设备故障以及发展环境态势感知等任务。

结果：分析产生了六个任务图，其中确定了关键的认知考虑因素，在飞行模拟任务后捕获了飞行员的见解，并记录了飞行员利用其专业知识解决操作问题的示例。

结论：这种 ACTA 方法和由此产生的产品可能有助于为 UAS 新手飞行员设计新的培训课程/计划。