Human Interface and Automation for Swarm Management

Swarming systems are an emerging technology offering new offensive and defensive capabilities, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness for military and commercial unmanned systems. Swarm communication limitations, emergent behaviors, decentralized control, and control of vehicle groups present challenges for human operators interacting with swarms and for the design of swarm systems and user interfaces. In this SBIR, Pacific Science & Engineering (PSE) is addressing these issues by identifying the key human cognitive and perceptual challenges in swarm operations, and engaging in systematic user interface design to develop a Human Interaction & Visualization Environment (HIVE) for Swarms that specifically mitigates those challenges. The HIVE interfaces will integrate concepts and research from ongoing unmanned vehicle control system interface and autonomy efforts, to leverage relevant work and align with development efforts for transition. HIVE’s user-centered interface concepts will enable human operators to effectively manage future operational swarms, and will be designed to scale up from and down to multi-vehicle control interfaces being developed and fielded in today’s systems, aligning with DoD investments in common, standardized, and scalable control systems and interfaces. Given the potential for widespread use of swarming systems, the HIVE concepts have significant commercial value in Government (DoD and other agencies) and commercial sectors.