Defense Intelligence Reference Document Cognitive Limits On Simultaneous Control Of Multiple Unmanned Spacecraft

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Due to the complexity, duration and numerous support requirements of future manned
deep-space missions involving exploration, mineral exploitation, and possible
colonization, a likely scenario will be the inclusion of unmanned fleets of support craft.
Coupled with other requirements, an intensive research program is needed to
investigate the cognitive limits on pilots and other operators responsible for the
simultaneous control of multiple unmanned spacecraft making up the support fleet; a
"fleet' approach is proposed in an effort to optimize safety and exploratory reach. This
research effort would also aim at maximizing the functional efficiency of the mission
and reducing the operation costs of unmanned vehicle fleets.
In this scenario there is much about the ancillary craft that are automated in both
navigation and mission. Many of them will not require full-time piloting but given that
they could be hundreds of miles from each other at any instant of time, they need
monitoring to prevent unseen system failure or collision from letting them just
disappear one day during the mission like a Martian probe. Accomplishing this
monitoring task and the occasional piloting task for multiple craft in the fleet could be
economically accomplished if only one remote pilot on station at a time was necessary.
We will focus here on the cognitive limitation of a human astronaut to perform the
multiple-vehicle piloting task. It is not a surprise that there is little work in this specific
area - in fact there were zero peer-reviewed articles in the major journals concerning
remote piloting of multiple spacecraft (published in the last 30 years). There is
however, a large body of cognitive research on the limitations of object supervision and
tracking for the task of air traffic control (ATC). There is additionally an emerging body
of research concerned with multiple unmanned vehicle piloting for heterogeneous
missions. These are the two areas reviewed in detail as they relate to possible
spacecraft missions.
When a pilot or ATC operator is in control of several craft they have developed an
internal mental representation of the identity, position, mission, and current direction of
each object tracked. This is referred to colloquially as "the big picture." This mental
representation is also called situational awareness. Keeping all of the information about
all of the objects straight as long as they are in scope is the goal.
The primary research question we seek to answer is whether there is a cognitive limit
to the number of moving objects that can be maintained in the big picture. Secondary
questions are whether this maximum number is limited by complexity, how those
limitations might be described, whether there is a real-time objective measure that will
indicate when a pilot is approaching their maximum capacity, and whether that capacity
has been overloaded.
For the current treatise we will consider only traditional humans as pilots. Cyborg-
enhanced astrobots are a topic for another tome.
In discussing cognitive limitations, it is useful to introduce the concepts of task demand,
mental workload, and a simplistic model of multiple resource theory. For a given task,
the gross level of neural activity required is a representation of the mental demands of
the task. Of course, a complex task can demand varied resources such as visual and
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