Presented at the 5th Annual SMi UAV Technology (Virtual) Conference 29 September 2020

1. Simulation and
Training for
UAV Operations
Andy Fawkes
FIMechE
5th Annual SMi
UAVTechnology
Conference
28/29 September 2020
UK MoD

2. Related
Themes
Automation
Simulation
Remote
Operations
Telepresence
Innovation

3. Outline
•The Military of Today
•Simulation and Gaming
•Human-Machine Interfaces
•Cautionary Tales

4. The
Military
1/4

5. RAF Age Distribution
38% of the RAF ≤ 29
and 74% ≤ 39
UK Armed Forces Biannual Diversity Statistics: 1 April 2019

6. The Next Workforce
Wikipedia

7. 93% of Children Play
Video Games
Children's Commissioner for England (2019)

8. Air Chief Marshal
Sir Stephen Hillier
Jan 18
“teenagers playing on
their Xbox at home
should take their
gaming to the next level
and join the RAF to
operate real drones”

9. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

10. Tip of the Spear Innovation

11. Simulation
and Gaming
2/4

12. Why Use
Simulation
in
Training?

13. Simulator?
Intelligent UAV

14. Simulation Now - Land, Sea, Air, Anywhere

15. Whole Earth Simulation

16. Simulation/Visualisation can be rapidly adapted
and exploited for mission training and rehearsal
Rapidly Reconfigurable Simulation
Pix4D

17. Simulation
Trends
Unreal 5
(2021)
youtu.be/qC5KtatMcUw

18. XR

19. “In Virtual Simulation
you look at the
Virtual World,
in VR you are in it”

20. Rift Drone
AR.Drone 2.0 + Oculus Rift + Unity + Xbox 360 Controller
Rift Drone is open source: https://youtu.be/nD2a0OHRmoM

21. See What the
Machine Sees
Through AR
(Augmented
Reality)
Iviz

22. C2
Flight Path
Programmed in,
and Controlled by,
Unity Game
Engine

23. C2
Simulation
(VBS3)
Experimentation
Autonomous
Systems

24. Decision
Support
UK MoD
“Single
Synthetic
Environment”

25. Human
Machine
Interfaces
3/4

26. Voice
Controlled
Autonomous
Systems
UK
26
www.cervusdefence.com/case-
studies/exploring-voice-
controlled-autonomous-systems

27. Brain
Interface
27

28. Telexistence
28

29. Gaming
Interfaces
29 Pixabay

30. Cautionary
Tales
4/4

31. My Feelings on Uncrewed/Automation

32. Google
DeepMind
2019

33. Redundant
Pilots?
33
2016 2020

34. Algorithms…

35. AI
Limitations

36. Monitoring Systems

37. Easier
Controls?
(MS Flight Sim)

38. Boeing 737 MAX
Ethiopian
Airlines Flight
302

39. Paul M Fitts (1951)
Human Engineering for an Effective Air Navigation and Traffic Control System
• “great caution be exercised in assuming that men can successfully monitor
complex automatic machines and take over if the machines break down”
• “engineers should seriously consider systems in which machines would
monitor men and prevent them from making dangerous mistakes”

40. Responding…
"If I'm in the loop mentally I can
respond more quickly than if I have to
watch an automatic system and take
over and then get my mind into the
loop.
So I was more comfortable in flying a
manual descent than an automatic
descent... my mental computer is
already running at full speed.“
David Scott
Apollo 15 Commander (1971)

41. Autonomy and Communications

42. The Human Needs to
Understand What the
Machine is Thinking(?)

43. Test & Train
Test & Train
Test & Train
…..
Test & Train
Human(s)
Simulation
Autonomous
System

44. Maximise
the
Strengths
of Both

45. Questions?
BAE Systems