This section will build upon this and detail the aims and requirements of the remote operator interface that was needed, discuss the features that were developed, and finally will review the overall remote operator terminal that was designed to display the Task Allocation Algorithm output.
4.4.1 Aims of the Display
DSS are required when facilitating complex decision making in dynamic real-time envi- ronments – such as the real time task allocation of a set of aircraft to a set of targets to achieve some military (or other) objective. The first element of designing these systems is to identify the source of information and the way in which it might be natively rep- resented. In this case the information presented is sets of allocations for each aircraft and the associated times for each task, along with associated costs and timings. There were three main areas to include in the interface:
• Map display showing the positioning of aircraft and targets in the scene
• Scheduling of tasks and which tasks are to be carried out by each aircraft
• Network status, displaying whether the connections to each aircraft operating as expected
4.4.2 Implementing the Main Display Elements
4.4.2.1 Map Display
The majority of the remote operator terminal is used to display a large map of the engagement area. Overlaid on top of this map are icons representing the different assets and targets in the engagement area. Also displayed are the routes that each asset is due to fly. Icons used to represent the entities take on standard forms and colours for the type of object. Friendly aircraft are coloured blue/cyan and known enemy threats coloured red – as is standard for NATO guidelines for displays [20, 143]. It is also important to represent the aircraft heading with a line pointing from the centre of the object in the direction of travel. The map window can be zoomed in and out, and panned side to side to allow the user to position their view in the most appropriate way for their current engagement. The map can also be switched between different types; from Terrain, to Satellite and Hybrid variants.
4.4.2.2 Schedule Display
The aircraft-to-target schedule list is shown in the bottom right hand corner of the user interface and is used to list the order in which the targets will be prosecuted by the available aircraft. The time on target is displayed in the column relevant to the aircraft that has been tasked to that target. This provides the operator with a complete overview and an estimate of how long until each task will have been completed. As the scenario evolves, the loss of assets or the repositioning of targets may change the tasking of aircraft or the ordering of attacks. Furthermore, if an urgent request for CAS is added during the scenario, the schedule list will display this to the operator to ensure the new information is available. Any changes are updated on the aircraft to
target schedule list and are displayed to the user in real time. Changes in the ordering or task allocation are indicated to the operator by flashing the changed data.
4.4.2.3 Connection Data
The status bar at the top of the window is present to indicate the current system state to the user. Green statuses show that there is good data for the selected element. For example a green ‘A/C DATA’ indicates that positional and other information is being received from the aircraft in the engagement. An orange indicator indicates missing information. For example an orange ‘TGT DATA’ indicates that there is information missing from the target data set. This could be shown because a target is of the ‘Unknown’ type and has not yet been scanned by available sensors to be identified. The status bar also displays the current ‘ZULU’ time (Coordinated Universal Time – UTC) and the local time for the area in which the engagement is taking place, as well as a user triggered stopwatch timer.
4.4.2.4 Additional Functions
At the bottom of the Remote Operator Interface is a list of clickable buttons (soft keys) used to control the interface. The first set of soft keys is used to re-centre the map screen on the selected relevant aircraft or target. This is particularly useful if the op- erator loses track of the aircraft and targets on the map. The next functions are those that aid the targeting process. A manual update function is available which allows the user to enter an updated target position manually for any of the targets on screen. The ‘Click for Tgt Lat Lon’ button places a cross-hair on the mouse and allows the user to interrogate the objects on-screen and have their positions displayed in a window on the bottom bar (in decimal degrees).
The remote operator also has the ability to draft or forward a NATO standard CAS 9-Line Brief order [144] by clicking on the ‘Create CAS 9 Line Brief’ button. It allows 9-line briefings to be created, and/or edited and then sent to an aircraft. This aircraft will then attempt to prosecute the assigned target as a matter of urgency. This is likely to cause the task allocations to change once the algorithm has found the new optimum including the high priority target.
4.4.3 Display Overview
The information displayed on the main page of the Remote Operator Interface can be seen in Figure 4.2 with an expanded view of the Task Allocation Table (TAT) in Figure 4.3. The different features on the display are shown including both a long format CAS 9-Line Brief window and a short format Target Update box.
Figure 4.2: An Example of the Remote Operator Interface, Showing a Range of Targets and Assets with an Example 9-Line Brief Overlay
4.4.4 Networked Elements of the Display
The remote operator terminal communicates with other elements within the distributed simulation environment. The remote operator has the ability to see the full environ- ment, including piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft, and weapon systems. The aircraft may be purely simulated or be a manned flight simulator; current capabilities allow two full motion and two fixed flight simulators to be interfaced to the remote operator terminal. These links include digital data transfer and broadcast and/or person-to- person voice links. The environment also includes a number of stand-alone computers that run reconfigurable autonomous weapon models, which can emulate radio data link protocols to simulate networked weapons.
In order to simulate the distributed environment, a UDP is used to transmit/receive information between the different elements of the system. The content of this UDP com- munication channel is constrained to digital messaging standards currently in service, in particular the NATO standard VMF [124, 145]. The benefit of using a distributed simulation system employing a VMF style communication protocol ensures that each element only has information that would typically be available during NCW, and that individual systems are not over-aware of other platforms’ behaviour via an unintentional hidden channel.