Using virtual reality to control swarms of autonomous agents

Current two dimensional methods of controlling large numbers of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) have limitations such as a human's ability to track, efficiently control, and keep situational awareness on large numbers of sUASs. The 2017 DARPA-sponsored Service Academies Swarm Challenge inspired research producing novel command and control techniques that utilize a virtual reality (VR) environment and a multimodal interface. A swarm commander using this approach can select one sUAS, a sub-swarm, or even the entire swarm and assign that grouping a behavior to be carried out autonomously. This immersive VR environment improves situational awareness, optimizes command and control actions, reduces commander's task load, and ultimately provides a significant advantage over approaches that rely on traditional techniques.