This study investigated the performance and mental workload of airdrop missions using a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In the missions, a weight of 200 g was suspended on the button of the UAV. After joining an onsite training on UAV operation, the participant had the UAV taken off, elevated to an altitude of 30 m, flied to a target approximately 175 m ahead, descended to an altitude of either 5 or 10 m above the target, aimed at the ground target, and pushed a button on the remote controller to drop the weight. Upon completion of the airdrop mission, the participant had the drone elevated to the altitude of 30 m above ground level, returned to the take-off point, descended and landed. The NASA-TLX, Modified Cooper–Harper, and SWAT scales were adopted to measure the mental workload of the participant immediately after landing. The distance between the touchdown spot and middle of the ground target was measured to indicate the accuracy of the airdrop mission. Furthermore, we collected physiological and behavioral data, including flight time and data of heart rate and blood pressure of the participants. The results showed that the effects of airdrop altitude were not significant on both flight performance variables including flight time and airdrop accuracy, and subjective and physiological mental workload parameters. We found the flight time of male participants was significantly shorter than that of female participants. The airdrop accuracy of males was also better than females. The gender difference in the performance of airdrop missions was confirmed. The findings contribute valuable insights for enhancing drone operation training involving airdrop missions.
A Preliminary Study of Airdrop Operations Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Lect.Notes Mechanical Engineering
Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications ; 2024 ; Hiroshima, Japan April 17, 2024 - April 19, 2024
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications ; Chapter : 14 ; 173-183
2024-11-29
11 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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