Human-system interaction issues and proposed solutions to promote successful maturation of the UTM system

Abstract

Over five years, NASA, together with partnering organizations, has been developing and successfully demonstrating the maturing capabilities of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system and its ability to support communication and coordination among small UAS operations through a series of flight tests. During these flight tests, human-system interaction (HSI) elements were also explored in order to identify the barriers to implementation as human operators transitionally fulfill roles that will be ultimately tasked to future automation. Throughout the tests, similar issues were regularly documented and are expected to persist if not formally addressed by consistent procedures, intuitive design, or regulation. Documented here, along with suggested mitigations, are the most frequently noted HSI items, which include operator training, data standardization, and information quality.