The Ground Control System is a remote control for the Hummingbird which has built in navigation
buttons and knobs as well as a low-resolution monitor which utilizes radio transmission to receive images from the Hummingbird.
This is a really interesting idea to camouflage UASs. I have also attached a link to the video which shows how the GCS works and the Hummingbird in action.
Click here to view Hummingbird UAS video
The unmanned aviation system chosen for this review is DARPA’s nano UAS known simply as the Hummingbird. The Hummingbird gets its name from its distinct design that replicates both the appearance and wing motion of a hummingbird. This design is intended to mimic the flight of a hummingbird as accurately as possible while giving the control pilot the ability to quite literally get a birds eye view of its surroundings. The natural design also helps disguise the UAS to avoid detection from anyone who may pose a threat.
DARPA’s Hummingbird has a very unique design (see Figure 1). In fact, the design for the wings alone took over 300 tries before settling on the final product (Ward, 2011). This nano UAS is battery powered and remote controlled (see Figure 2). The Hummingbird is equipped with a low-resolution forward facing camera beneath the birds beak. This camera allows the individual using the Ground Control System (GCS) to have an aerial view of his/her surroundings in full color video. The video is transmitted to a handheld device (the GCS) that is equipped with a screen and control buttons to manipulate the Hummingbird.
Launch of the UAS is also rather simple. The pilot simply holds out their palm with the bottom of the Hummingbird resting on his hand. They can then use the control button on the GCS to trigger the Hummingbird’s wing-strokes. The transmission between the GCS and the UAS allows the pilot to regulate the wing-stroke velocity that can ultimately enable 11 mph flight rate (Ward, 2011). Once the wing-stroke velocity has been increased, the Hummingbird flies away from the control pilot’s palm. There are many benefits from this design from the stand-point of human factors.
The handheld GCS is similar to many other UAS designs or electronic flying toy designs so it complies with many individual’s mental models of remote controlled devices. Additionally, the launch requires very little effort or set up since the Hummingbird can launch straight from one’s palm. This also increases efficiency and reduces the amount of time needed to perform the surveillance task at hand since set up and launch is rather easy. Unfortunately, there are some negative human factors to consider as well.
The Hummingbird is still a new design in development and has not yet been widely implemented. As such, it is difficult to predict what negative outcomes may arise in the realm of human factors; however, there are some concerns that should be considered. One such factor is the limitation of situational awareness. Although the intention of the nano UAS Hummingbird is surveillance, this can be compromised by its very limited capacity to be aware of its surroundings. The Hummingbird has a very narrow scope of vision and it is also in low-resolution. Due to these limitations, the controller may misjudge a situation or make a poor decision based off of misleading information gathered from the low quality stream of information from the Hummingbird and the lack of situational awareness. Further, the use of this UAS would require sustained attention, which could ultimately lead in boredom and thereby result in decreased attention.
Studies indicate that operators currently controlling unmanned aerial vehicles report a high level of boredom (Cummings, Mastracchio, Thornburg, & Mkrtchyan, 2013). This significant boredom often results in distraction and general lack of attention to the task at hand (Cummings et al., 2013). This is particularly an issue among controllers who spend long duration of time in a vigilance task with the GCS. However, there are some simple changes that can be made to mitigate these problems.
One solution the issue of situational awareness would be to increase the monitor and camera from a low-resolution stream to a high-resolution stream. This would help increase visibility and make it easier to ascertain situational awareness. Further, adding an additional camera to the backside of the Hummingbird would also allow for a 360-degree view of ones surroundings during flight. The issue of boredom can also be alleviated with the implementation of efficient attention switching as indicated by Cummings et al. (2011). Occasional attention switching resulted in increased performance and decreased boredom, therefore by using this technique one could help improve the GCS. Interestingly, these human factors issues are also present in manned aircraft as pilots must also face situational awareness and boredom/attention issues.
References
Cummings, M., Mastracchio, C., Thornburg, K., and Mkrtchyan, A. (2013). Boredome and
distraction in multiple unmanned vehicle supervisory control. Interact. Comput. doi: 10.1093/iwc/iws011Ward, Logan (2011). Flight reimagined: the first robotic hummingbird [Online image]. Retrieved October 29, 2014 from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/ military/planes-uavs/flight-reimagined-the-first-robotic-hummingbird