The present invention relates to a system utilized to control a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a variable autonomy control system that enables a human to manage and operate a vehicle through interaction with a human-system interface.
Vehicle control systems are well known in the art, one known example being a control system that enables a human operator to remotely manage and control an unmanned vehicle. In one known application, an operator remotely controls an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through a human-system interface. The operator typically controls details related to payload, mission and/or flight characteristics of the unmanned aircraft.
The development of practical applications for UAV technology has been hindered by an absence of a well-integrated control and guidance system. Potential applications for UAV's include border patrol, traffic monitoring, hazardous area investigation, atmospheric sampling or even motion picture filming. All of these and other UAV applications would benefit from a control system that enables a person with minimal aviation experience or manual skill to operate the vehicle. With presently known systems, the operator is rarely able to focus on payload or mission operation because he or she is consumed with the significant responsibilities associated with aircraft piloting.
In order to be truly versatile, UAV control systems should be comfortably usable by individuals with training that is focused on the requirements of a given mission or on the usability of a payload, rather than on the aviation of the air vehicle. In many cases, present systems require an individual with pilot training to engage a control system and manage mission, payload, and aviation functions simultaneously. It is not common for known control systems to be configured for the support of intuitive high level commands such as “go left”, “go right”, “take off”, “land”, “climb”, or “dive”. It is instead more typical that known control systems require low-level stick-and-rudder commands from the operator. Thus, there is a need for a control system that supports integration of intuitive, mission-level remote commands into a UAV guidance system, thereby significantly reducing the work load on a human operator as it pertains to vehicle aviation.
Known control systems are generally not configured to support multiple levels of autonomous operation. In fact, few systems even offer autonomous or semi-autonomous mission capability packaged with an ability to remotely interrupt the mission. Thus, for known systems, the workload of the operator is generally too great to enable him or her to fly multiple UAV's from a single ground control station, which is an appealing possibility. Thus, there is a need for a flexible vehicle control and management concept that will operate even when responding to remote intuitive commands such that one person can operate multiple vehicles from the same control station.
Known UAV control systems typically offer limited real-time control capability or they require management by rated pilots. It is known for systems to have a capability to automatically follow pre-planned mission routes. However, it is common that real-world missions fail to go exactly as planned. For example, time-critical targets or surveillance objectives can pop up during the mission; traffic conflicts with manned aircraft can occur; clouds can get in the way of sensors (e.g., EO/IR sensors); or intelligent and devious adversaries can make target location and identification difficult. Real-time control is required to deviate from the planned route to find and identify new targets; to maneuver UAV's to avoid traffic; to fly under the weather; or to get better line-of-sight-angles. Skilled pilots can maneuver aircraft, but then an additional operator is typically necessary to manage sensors and/or the dynamic mission.
While commercialized products such as video games and CAD utilities now provide an excellent model for human interfaces, such interfaces have generally not been completely integrated into an actual vehicle control system. In fact, very few known UAV autopilot systems are readily compatible with known Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware. This is unfortunate because it is not uncommon for non-pilot trained individuals to be pre-equipped with a familiarity with such hardware that includes standard joysticks, track-balls, lap-top computers, virtual reality head mounted displays and glove input devices.
Known vehicle control systems generally do not include an operational mode that enables an operator to focus his or her attention on a tactical situation display (e.g., images transmitted from an onboard sensor) rather than providing directional commands based primarily on a control interface. Such a control mode has many potential advantageous applications, for example, an operator can command the scope of the vehicle's on-board sensor to survey a battle field (or other topographical region) while the vehicle autonomously commands a flight profile that is slaved to the operator's sensor line-of-sight commands. There is a need for an integrated guidance solution that adapts to such a mode of control.
Advances in virtual reality simulation graphic display technology have made the concept of a virtual reality interface to real-time systems feasible. Already used by surgeons in the medical community, the use of virtual reality, such as Telepresence or Mixed Reality systems, in the context of UAV control is now feasible but generally unknown. Thus, there is a need for a control system that provides an operator with functionality that takes advantage of this new technology.
Finally, many known control systems are not adaptable to on-going command-and-control software development efforts. For example, for military applications, it is desirable that a control system be equipped to operate within the advanced Command Control Communication Computers and Intelligence (C4I) infrastructure and interface with associated Common Ground Control Stations such as the Joint STARS Common Ground Station. It is desirable that guidance software have the capability not only to respond to the command interface, but also an ability to be expanded modularly as new capabilities are desired, such that expansions can be accomplished without significant changes in the interface.