UAV video imagery quality can be compromised by narrow field-of-view, environmental conditions, bandwidth limitations, or a highly cluttered scene. Advanced display concepts (e.g., synthetic vision) can potentially ameliorate video characteristics and enhance UAV operations. This study evaluated three display concepts for improving UAV sensor operator situation awareness: virtual flags overlaid on landmarks, a synthetically-generated imagery border (picture-in-picture), and a display-fixed spatial orientation symbol. Sixteen participants searched for ground landmarks using a UAV-mounted gimbaled camera simulation. Results indicated that the display concepts show promise for improving UAV operations. In particular, virtual flags reduced landmark search times by 40–58%. Although the picture-in-picture concept did not improve performance, comments suggest an alternative instantiation of the concept will improve utility.
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