Management of multiple unmanned combat aerial vehicles from a single-seat fighter cockpit in manned-unmanned fighter missions

This article describes a concept for a single-seat fighter cockpit based system, simultaneously managing up to three unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) during mission execution. The concept is primarily based on the theory of cooperative and cognitive automation, developed at the Institute of Flight Systems at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich (UBM). Its main component is a modular assistant system, which consists of one artificial cognitive unit (ACU) per UCAV, a self-explanation capability module (SECM) and a team coordination module (TCM). The ACUs grant the unmanned team members capabilities for cooperative and rational behavior in the mission context. In order to support the manned-unmanned collaboration the assistant system is equipped with a SECM and TCM. The SECM explains the observable behavior of the unmanned platforms to the human pilot. It also aims at increasing the pilot’s trust in the unmanned systems. The TCM is responsible for all aspects of team coordination, especially between manned and unmanned tasks. The presented concept is implemented in a highly realistic mission simulation environment including a generic fighter simulator, equipped with conventional avionic systems. The article concludes with first experimental results obtained in a test campaign in collaboration with the German Air Force.