DESIGN AND TESTING OF A DRONE PILOT TRAINING SYSTEM USING MIXED REALITY

Introduction: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have emerged as versatile tools with a wide range of applications, from surveillance and aerial photography to disaster management and agricultural monitoring. The increasing ubiquity of drones in various industries has driven a growing demand for skilled drone pilots who can operate these vehicles safely and effectively. The present pilots’ training methods are based on the subjective assessment and knowledge of the instructor. Despite the instructor’s perfection in the domain, the lack of objective parameters and repetitiveness of the assessment makes the training less efficient than it could be. Objectives: The design and development of an innovative drone pilot training system is therefore presented, with the aim of making training and examinations repeatable and objective procedures. Using the mixed reality head-mounted display HoloLens 2, a customizable training environment has been created, along with a scoring algorithm that measures and automatically assesses pilots’ performance. Results: The system was assessed, initially within a simulated environment, and subsequently through real-world flight tests. The set of in-flight tests with full equipment has been developed at the Aviation Research Center (Przasnysz airfield), which is a part of Warsaw University of Technology. Conclusions: It was concluded that the system offers a promising outlook to address the evolving and growing demands of the UAV industry. The objective assessment of a pilot’s performance is a valuable tool for the operator and instructor during the training process.