Human Factors, Ethics, and Morality of DoD UAS

UAS Morality Issues

     The argument against the use of drones by the military has been very one sided based on social media and news reports.  Statistics being reported have been debated continuously regarding UAS payload accuracy and civilian deaths.  However, the percentages being broadcasted are rarely put into context.  Avery Plaw, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts researched the deaths of combatants versus civilians in other environments such as ground warfare.  One study showed that drone deaths in Pakistan were estimate at 4, 6, 17, and 20 percent (Shane, S. 2012).    Comparing this study to other warfare settings, the drone civilian deaths were very low.  Ground warfare conducted by the Pakistani Army ended up with a 46 percent death rate of civilians (Shane, S. 2012).  Mr. Plaw also stated that conflicts over the last two decades estimated civilian deaths to be from 33 to 80 percent (Shane, S. 2012).  Limiting the use of drone attacks is allowing our enemies freedom of action.  The ability to fly to a location and monitor a target before striking without ever sending a solder or pilot is an advantage armies of the past could only dream of.   

 UAS Human Factors and Ethics

     The difficulty of war from a distance is the disconnect between man to man combat and being under fire.  The idea that someone is engaging in war or an attack without actually being present can be an ethical dilemma for some.  Some UAS pilots have struggled with post traumatic stress disorder while other disagree that’s possible due to not being present during the strike.  Regardless, the idea of taking another humans life during war is a difficult responsibility especially when there is a potential for innocent lives to be taken.  The human factors elements that can help with mitigation of innocent lives lost can be found in technology improvements.  Increased situation awareness through improved camera optics and increased field of view.  Improved design of ground control stations making the human-machine interface more ergonomic and easy to use.  Decreasing lost link events, data-link latency, and eliminating misinterpreting flight telemetry data.

UAS Morality Opinions in the News

Below are some key phrases that I feel speak volumes from the New York Post and my thoughts behind them (Peters, R. 2015).   

“All weapons are inherently immoral”

War is something no one wants but we live in a world where war is a constant reality.  The US is somewhat sheltered compared to some other countries so it becomes easier for the public to criticize from afar.  Regardless, in order to protect and defend weapons are required.  Weapons and defending an individuals own home is an idea and concept that has been ongoing since the beginning of time.  Whether the weapon is a gun used by a solider, an armed manned aircraft, or unmanned aircraft, they are means required in order for sufficient protection.  The idea of a drone was not to design a more humane weapon, but a more precise weapon.

 “Delay is defeat”

    Action must be taken now to improve the UAS technologies to reduce the likelihood of missed targets and malfunctions leading to a civilian’s loss of life.  The debates and restrictions only slow our ability as a country to eradicate potential threats to our country as terrorist activities reach an all-new level of danger.

“Thousands of lives saved and what makes the headlines?  Two western hostages killed in an otherwise successful drone attack.”

The media does a good job of spinning stories in their favor.  You rarely see statistics of hostages or civilians that are killed during ground attacks and when you do it is not the headline story.  Also, there are rarely debates over whether soldiers weapons are immoral or ethically unsound.  A soldiers tools to protect himself and his fellow soliders have not changed much

 “Even with superb intelligence, weaponry still goes awry”

The technology used with military UAS platforms has become very advanced and precise.  However, technology is not perfect and neither are the people operating it.  This is where the human factors element comes into play.  The design, layout, and training involved with ground control stations, displays, menu options, flight telemetry data, and optical sensor capabilities are fundamental in reducing such human-machine interface issues.  

 “They want to kill us, and their madness has no reverse gear”

     As unfortunate as it may be, we must realize a countries enemies have no reservations and will do what it takes to carry out their plans regardless of intent.  The military branches responsible for protection of our country must counter such attacks in the most precise manner possible, while minimizing causalities.  The evolution of war began with mostly man-to-man combat, then armed vehicles, then manned aircraft, leading to the current unmanned aircraft.  The argument that drone attacks lead to more civilian deaths over previous methods of war is statement with very little supporting evidence.

 References

McKnight, Lt. Gen. C,  (2014).  The Morality of Drones.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lt-gen-clarence-e-mcknight-jr-/the-morality-of-drones_b_6002808.html

Peters, R.  (2015).  End the moaning about the morality of US drone strikes.  Retrieve from http://nypost.com/2015/04/23/end-the-moaning-about-the-morality-of-us-drone-strikes/

Shane, S.  (2012).  The Moral Case for Drones.  Retrieve from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/the-moral-case-for-drones.html?_r=0

Operational Risk Management

Commercial sUAS operations are growing quickly as FAA regulations continue to change.  Part 107 recently released by the FAA will allow for commercial operation of UAS by anyone that takes the aeronautical knowledge test to become certified as a sUAS commercial operator.  Commercial operators include anyone flying their UAS in exchange for money.  Part 107 will be official in August and will no longer require commercial UAS pilots to operate with a private pilot’s license.  This opens the door for a multitude of commercial “drone” businesses and opportunities.  However, each pilot should approach their applied application with a fully defined plan to mitigate any hazards during operation.  The subsections below will give examples of the hazard analysis process for a DJI Phantom 4 used for commercial roof inspection operation.

     

Preliminary Hazard List

     The initial list is used for brainstorming and coming up with potential hazards in various stages of the operation.  The table below shows the staging and flight hazards as an example.  The probability, severity, and Risk level are based on MIL-STD-882D/E (Marshall, Douglas M., Barnhart, Richard K., and Hottman, Stephen B., 2012).  Probability starts with level A at “Frequent” and goes to level E which is considered “Improbable”.  Severity starts with Category I which is catastrophic and ends with level IV which is negligible.  The greater the number or letter, the less of a risk the hazard will present.

       Track one shows power lines as a probable probability and a severity of category III which is marginal.  This means that power lines are somewhat possible in terms of an obstacle to consider during staging.  The severity would be marginal in that this would most likely result in a loss of work days due to damaged equipment but not necessarily bodily injury.

Preliminary Hazard Assessment

     The next step is to analyze the proposed hazards and determine potential mitigating actions.  After providing a mitigation action the RRL or residual risk level is revaluated to determine if the proposed action reduced the original risk.  All actions proposed below did reduce the risks by small increments and most are fairly straight forward for this operation application.  The pilot needs to have a full understanding of the UAS’s capabilities and limitations in all conditions and environments to help reduce potential risk (Marshall, Douglas M., Barnhart, Richard K., and Hottman, Stephen B., 2012). 

Operational Hazard Review and Analysis

     The OHR&A is similar to the previous analysis but focuses on human factors and crew resource management.  In addition the action review column is added which will include the actions that haven’t been mitigated or the newly modified action.  For the DJI P4 example all actions were mitigated appropriately so the tables below will only show new actions that require attention or review related to the human/machine interface and CRM (Marshall, Douglas M., Barnhart, Richard K., and Hottman, Stephen B., 2012). 

Operational Risk Management Assessment Tool

     The final tool is the risk assessment matrix which is used to evaluate common operational hazards in terms of severity and probability (Marshall, Douglas M., Barnhart, Richard K., and Hottman, Stephen B., 2012).  The risk assessment matrix takes the above risks that were developed and gives a summary prior to flight activity.  The tool is used as an aid in the decision-making process.

References

Marshall, Douglas M., Barnhart, Richard K., and Hottman, Stephen B., eds. (2012).   Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Baton Rouge, ProQuest ebrary. Web. 18 July 2016.

Automated Take-off and Landing

Unmanned Aircraft

     Types of automation used for various unmanned aircraft today can vary greatly.  The operator might be “in the loop” or “on the loop” depending on the systems design.  Military UAV applications continue to research and integrate greater levels of automation then in any other industry.

UAV Capabilities

     The greatest advancement in terms of unmanned automated flight pertaining to automatic takeoff and landing would be the X-47B experimental demonstrator by Northrop Grumman.  The unmanned combat air vehicle was designed to show the ability of landing on an aircraft carrier autonomously.  In addition, the aircraft also demonstrated the ability to refuel during autonomous flight.  The basic concept behind the unmanned combat aerial vehicle is the capability to be launched by the click of a button.  The unmanned carrier-launched surveillance and strike system requires superior processing power and immense amounts of data in order to make split second decisions during all flight phases. 

     The difference between the X-47B and other UAV’s with autonomous capabilities is that the X-47B does not need to be piloted by remote control.  Control of the UAV is carried out through a forearm-mounted box called the Control Display Unit (CDU) shown in figure 1, which sends orders to an on-board computer (TechBlog. 2013).   The CDU can also be used for taxiing the UAV on the aircraft carrier.  The CDU is not used to fly the UCAV but for sending commands such as targets, waypoints, path corrections, and any other information that will allow the UCAV to calculate its course and navigate utilizing the autopilot system (Rutherford, H. 2013).   GPS and collision avoidance sensors are also integrated to help with sense and avoid capabilities.   Accelerometers, altimeters, gyroscopes, and other classified hardware were also designed and integrated to provide an advanced level of autonomous flight (Dillow, C. 2012).  The system was tested through thousands of simulated flights prior to actual flight.

    Advantages of the X-47B include the ability to launch from naval carriers unlike the predator and repaper drones, which are too slow and large to allow such a takeoff.  In addition, the other drones currently used by the military are mostly landed via joystick and video feed which would be an incredible challenge to land on a carrier even for the most experienced pilot (Dillow, C. 2012).  Landing an aircraft on a carrier is a complex task, which normally requires human-to-human voice communication to verbally report out on altitude, fuel, and other pertinent information (Dillow, C. 2012).  The X-47B autonomous landing procedures have automated almost all of the previous verbal communication.  The information such as position, speed, and pitch are sent over a datalink to the tower.  Datalink failures are a possibility as well so the system was designed to fly past the carrier during approach, find an alternative landing location, or worst-case ditch in the ocean (Dillow, C. 2012).    

Figure 1 – Forearm mounted CDU controller for X-47B.  Adapted from http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/

UAV Limitations

     The tested capabilities of the UCAV meet all expectations an autonomous UAV should live up to.  However, the capabilities are limited to the specific conditions tested since the program is strictly experimental.  During flight test, similar issues of communication and maintenance were experienced as are with most remotely piloted vehicles.  The idea behind the demonstrator is to show the fully autonomous capabilities and potentially use the technology in other fighter platforms and new UAV designs.  The fact that the operator is on the loop versus in the loop can lead to challenges if the aircraft performs in a way not intended but can’t be immediately taken control of by an operator or pilot.

  Costs of programs such as this UCAV are high and have a specified timeline, which can sometime limit full development potential of a new technology or system.

Manned Aircraft

     Automated operations of manned aircraft are usually found in commercial transport through the use of autopilot on commercial airliners which give the pilot more of a supervisory role.  In terms of manned aircraft, auto-takeoff is not a technology or operating procedure normally used.  However, auto landing of an aircraft is more common, especially in poor visibility weather conditions.   

Manned Capabilities

     Aircraft such as the Boeing 737, 777, 787 and other Airbus aircraft all come standard with a variation of autoland.  More recently, autoland was demonstrated in General Aviation through the Diamond aircraft DA42 four-seat twin-engine airplane shown in Figure 2. 

 The idea behind the automatic landing feature of the Diamond aircraft is more of a general “electronic parachute” for general aviation pilots.  General Aviation accidents are more common then commercial operations.  Some aircraft have actual parachutes that can be deployed, others allow for pilots to release themselves, and some have no fail safe at all.  The fly by wire autoland system is designed as an emergency backup if a pilot experiences an engine failure or becomes incapacitated (Horne, T. 2015).   The system activates if the aircraft is near its destination and no inputs from the pilot have been detected.  Through the use of GPS navigation and radar altimeter the system utilizes autopilot and control power changes to extend the landing gear, flaps, and actually land the airplane (Horne, T. 2015). 

    The autoland feature is a true advancement in automation for general aviation safety.  Whether the pilot is not capable to land the aircraft, visibility is limited, or weather conditions are poor the autoland provides an automated solution.  The autoland can be overridden at anytime as well, allowing the pilot to take back control.  In addition to the autoland feature, Diamond is also planning to test an automatic takeoff option (Horne, T. 2015). 

Figure 2 – Diamond Aircraft – Left, Cockpit view during autoland flight - Right.  Adapted from http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Video-Diamond-DA42-Autoland-224897-1.html

Manned Limitations

     The autoland feature for the Diamond aircraft is great for specific situations but is still very limited in its applications.  The autoland doesn’t include any other autopilot features during normal flight.  Autothrottle is only applied during the engagement of the autoland feature.  Also the cost of the system is very high in comparison to the overall cost of the aircraft, making the benefit less desirable to the average general aviation pilot.

    

Conclusion

     Take-off and landing are the most critical part of any flight and the level of automation associated with this flight phase should be based on the environment.  Unmanned platforms can take greater advantage of automatic take-offs and landings especially in military applications.  Auto takeoff and landing allows the reduction in launch and recovery teams, equipment, infrastructure, and maintenance.  Automated take offs and landings would allow a reduction in cost for military applications.  Take-off and landing via a joystick and video feed is very challenging and requires a high degree of skill and situational awareness.  Full autonomous takeoff and landing of UAV’s have come a long way but still require testing for all unique flight environments, fail safe modes, electromagnetic interference, latency,  and datalink management.

     Manned aircraft with capability for automated take-offs and landings are not used as predominately and are meant as a means of assisting the crew.  During poor visibility and bad weather, autoland is a great asset.  Heavily relying on such automation is not recommended.  The crew is in command of the airplane, not the automation.  Take off and landing are critical and pilots should be in control during these phases unless other environmental circumstances are present.

     Lastly, regardless of the level of automation and how it might be used, training is crucial.  The crew must understand the automated systems capabilities, when it should be used, and the limitations.      

  

 References

Dillow, C.  (2012).  I am warplane.  Retrieved from http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/i-am-warplane

Grady, M.  (2015).  Diamond DA42 Autoland.  Retrieved from http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Video-Diamond-DA42-Autoland-224897-1.html

Horne, T.  (2015).  Diamond Debuts Autoland System.  Retrieved from https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2015/september/22/diamond-debuts-autoland-system?WT.mc_id=150925epilot=WT.mc_sect%3dtts#.VgU9Dbl3OKc.mailto

Nasr, Reem.  (2015).  Autopilot: What the system can and cant do.  Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/26/autopilot-what-the-system-can-and-cant-do.html

Rutherford, H. (2013). The unmanned combat air system demonstrator X-47B. Chips, 31(2), 30.

TechBlog.  (2013).  X-47B Stealth Drone Completes Successful Launch Aircraft Carrier.  Retrieved from http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/x-47b-stealth-drone-completes-successful-launch-from-aircraft-carrier