Paper ID: 2410.16943

FlightAR: AR Flight Assistance Interface with Multiple Video Streams and Object Detection Aimed at Immersive Drone Control

Oleg Sautenkov, Selamawit Asfaw, Yasheerah Yaqoot, Muhammad Ahsan Mustafa, Aleksey Fedoseev, Daria Trinitatova, Dzmitry Tsetserukou

The swift advancement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies necessitates new standards for developing human-drone interaction (HDI) interfaces. Most interfaces for HDI, especially first-person view (FPV) goggles, limit the operator's ability to obtain information from the environment. This paper presents a novel interface, FlightAR, that integrates augmented reality (AR) overlays of UAV first-person view (FPV) and bottom camera feeds with head-mounted display (HMD) to enhance the pilot's situational awareness. Using FlightAR, the system provides pilots not only with a video stream from several UAV cameras simultaneously, but also the ability to observe their surroundings in real time. User evaluation with NASA-TLX and UEQ surveys showed low physical demand ($\mu=1.8$, $SD = 0.8$) and good performance ($\mu=3.4$, $SD = 0.8$), proving better user assessments in comparison with baseline FPV goggles. Participants also rated the system highly for stimulation ($\mu=2.35$, $SD = 0.9$), novelty ($\mu=2.1$, $SD = 0.9$) and attractiveness ($\mu=1.97$, $SD = 1$), indicating positive user experiences. These results demonstrate the potential of the system to improve UAV piloting experience through enhanced situational awareness and intuitive control. The code is available here: this https URL

Submitted: Oct 22, 2024