Touchscreen Route Emphasis for MUM-T Flight Path Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manned unmanned teaming (MUM-T) operations are complex due to human operators being task-saturated, managing multiple sensor information feeds and vehicle interfaces, which complicates situational awareness and increases workload.
Innovation Solution
A computer apparatus with a touchscreen display and processor that generates a graphical user interface showing symbology for unmanned teamed assets, allowing operators to select and emphasize current and future flight paths, improving situational awareness without increasing workload.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If multiple sensor information feeds and vehicle interfaces are displayed simultaneously, then operator situational awareness is improved, but operator workload increases and task saturation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The display interface is segmented into multiple functional zones: a primary battlespace overview area showing all unmanned assets, and secondary detail panels that provide comprehensive information about selected assets. This segmentation allows operators to view global situational awareness while accessing detailed information on demand, reducing the need to process all information simultaneously and thereby reducing workload.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a two-dimensional flat display to a multi-layered hierarchical interface. The primary layer shows condensed battlespace overview, while additional layers (accessed through interaction) provide detailed information about specific assets, objectives, and sensor feeds. This dimensional organization allows comprehensive information presentation without overwhelming the operator with simultaneous visual processing demands.
2Loss of information
If comprehensive information about all unmanned assets is displayed, then situational awareness is improved, but interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the interface provide different levels of information density appropriate to their function. The primary battlespace overview uses simplified symbology and condensed information display, while detailed information panels provide comprehensive data about selected assets. This local differentiation of information quality allows comprehensive situational awareness without requiring the entire interface to display maximum detail simultaneously, thereby reducing overall complexity.
3Loss of information
If detailed flight path information for all assets is shown, then situational awareness is improved, but visual clutter increases and key information becomes harder to detect
Solution Approach 1:
Detailed flight path information is extracted from the primary battlespace overview and presented in a separate detail panel. The primary display shows only essential flight path information using simplified graphical representations, while comprehensive flight path data, sensor information, and asset details are available in the extracted detail section. This separation eliminates visual clutter from the primary view while maintaining access to complete information.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer apparatus includes a touchscreen display. The computer apparatus generates a graphical user interface on the touchscreen display and receive user inputs via the touchscreen display. The graphical user interface includes symbology representing a flight path of multiple unmanned teamed assets from a current position to a current objective. The graphical user interface also includes symbology representing a card associated with each of the unmanned teamed assets. By the touchscreen display, an operator selects one of the unmanned teamed assets, for emphasis of the flight path. The flight paths of the non-selected unmanned teamed assets remain displayed when the selected flight path is emphasized. The operator may select the unmanned teamed asset by the flight path or by the unmanned teamed asset card.