Intelligent Pilot Intent Analysis System using Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Determining pilot intent is very complex. Human pilots rely on a myriad of information that includes radio communications, aircraft location and trajectory, airport information (standard landing/departure patterns, noise abatement procedures, etc.), weather, the capabilities of different aircraft (e.g. take-off/landing speeds, max climb rate, etc.), instrument and visual flight rules, etc. Given this complexity, no simple algorithm will suffice. Human pilots routinely perform this activity, suggesting that what is required is a system based on the way those pilots reason. Stottler Henke has studied and automated this kind of human decision making for over 20 years and we have already developed techniques in intent recognition that are applicable to this effort. Our Intelligent Pilot Intent Analysis System (IPIAS) would represent and execute expert pilot reasoning processes to infer other pilots"intents in the same way human pilots currently do. The goals of the Phase I research are to understand the current and future terminal area of operations environment, elicit the cognitive processes currently used by human pilots to understand each others"intent, elaborate the heuristics, algorithms, and techniques for automatic recognition of pilot intent, prove the feasibility of the techniques through prototype development, and develop the Phase II system design. BENEFIT: The direct target for this effort is UASs operating in the terminal area of operations (TAO). The primary commercialization plan for IPIAS relative to this domain will be to demonstrate a significant potential for automatic, intelligent pilot intent recognition, thus improving safety related to UASs in the TAO with reduced manning in Phase II. This will allow us to acquire Phase III funding to transition IPIAS to operational use. The realization of this capability will create a demand for similar systems for other agencies (i.e. the Army, Navy, and Marines) since they all have UASs. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Agency have the similar problem of a growing number of UASs and the desire to operate them in the TAO. Furthermore many of the pilot intent analysis techniques described are also applicable for determining illegal intent and are therefore directly applicable to finding terrorists and smugglers.