UAS Human Factors, the Research Begins


Unmanned aircraft system (UAS) impact on legacy aeronautics is a rapidly growing focus for not only the simple reason of navigating the increased activity in the airspace but also combating safety issues for aircraft, pilots, and civilians. Human factors in manned aviation have been constantly researched and studied for years in order to decrease accidents and incidents in the airspace and one could argue has been successfully done. Introducing unmanned aircraft into this system poses concern as the human factors for unmanned aircraft can be drastically different than those for manned aircraft therefore contributing organizations to the integration are having to start, in some ways, from scratch to examine UAS human factor issues. 

 

UAS human factors more commonly known can include reduction of sensory cues, the reliance of automation, as well as transfer of control during operations. My research has just begun to a certain extent, but I have also been briefly exposed to the human factor issues with operator to operator interaction as well as cyber security with regards to both the command and control of the system. UAS traffic management (UTM) requires a cooperative nature of operator to operator as well as each operator doing their own management of their system. Without human factor awareness, research, and studies safety in the national airspace and potential company investments such as mail delivery could be limited. 

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