Master thesis, 30hp: HMI to visualize Human-Autonomy Teaming

Master Thesis, 30 hp: HMI to visualize Human-Autonomy Teaming

Are you a student eager to apply your theoretical knowledge and fresh perspectives to real-world challenges? At Saab, we believe that innovation thrives on new ideas, and your master thesis project could be the spark that ignites our next technological breakthrough.

Your role

We recognize the immense value that students bring to our company. Your academic rigor, combined with your enthusiasm for cutting-edge technology, allows you to approach problems with a unique and insightful lens. At Saab, you'll have the opportunity to collaborate with experienced engineers and specialists, gaining invaluable practical experience while making a tangible contribution to our growth and development.

Background
HAT is becoming increasingly important the defense domain, for example in the fighter aircraft application that is the problem area of this thesis, but also in other domains such as transportation, industrial automation, and decision support systems. As autonomous systems take on more advanced roles, there is a growing need to understand not only how humans and autonomous systems perform individually, but also how effectively they function as members of a team. This shift creates new challenges for understanding, evaluating and - most of all - improving how humans and autonomous agents collaborate to achieve shared goals.

While numerous approaches exist for measuring human and autonomous system -performance individually, assessing their performance as a team remains a largely open problem. For a system to be able to monitor, evaluate and influence HAT, two closely connected capabilities will be required: 1) administer and calculate measurements of team performance and 2) innovative interfaces that visualize these measurements as well as the workings of the team in ways that allows the team to be understood, supported and directed. These capabilities provide researchers and operators with tools to collect teaming data, visualize team status, communicate key performance indicators, and support experimentation with different teaming concepts.

Description of the Thesis Project
The primary objective of this thesis is to design, implement, and evaluate an HMI that provide examples of innovative HAT interfaces as described above. The challenge is to create an HMI that enable presentation and visualization of information related to team performance and teaming, while also supporting different stakeholder viewpoints - such as operators (decision makers), researchers, and observers. For example, a researcher can use this HMI to monitor the status of a manned-unmanned flight team and measure its performance by administering selected measurements at given times or events.

To achieve this objective, students are expected to investigate relevant user groups, identify information needs, develop interface concept prototypes, and evaluate the resulting design through appropriate methods. The final HMI prototype should demonstrate how HAT teams can be represented, monitored, evaluated and supported within a realistic use case provided by the Saab.

The secondary objective of the work is to investigate measurements of team performance and teaming. To fulfil this objective, students are expected to investigate existing approaches in the literature and propose one or more HAT measures or scoring frameworks that can be presented by the interface. Further, demonstration and evaluation of the applicability of the measure(s) within the Saab use case may be part of the secondary objective.

Relevant for both objectives is that the developed HMI is expected to interact with a measurement engine (system back-end) capable of collecting data and calculating the proposed measures. The measurement engine may be simulated through a Wizard-of-Oz approach or developed as part of the thesis depending on project scope.

Example capabilities of such an engine include collection of HAT related data, automated calculation of assessment metrics, support for experiment execution (such as administration of questionnaires), and influence HAT (directing the team).

The project contributes to ongoing work related to HAT, autonomous systems, human factors, and future decision-support capabilities at Saab. Take the opportunity to work with a challenge that combines research-oriented investigation with practical system development in a domain of teaming between manned and unmanned aircraft more relevant than ever!

Your profile

The thesis project is suitable for one or two students with an interest in human-computer interaction, software engineering, systems engineering, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence.

You are in the final stage of human-computer interaction, software engineering, autonomous systems and AI or equivalent and are about to begin a 30 hp thesis project.

The thesis project will involve literature studies, user-centered design, software development, research, and evaluation. Experience with software development, web technologies, user-interface design, or data visualization is considered beneficial.

We provide the support and guidance you need to translate your theoretical knowledge into practical solutions. Join us and become a driving force behind Saab's technological advancements!

This position requires that you pass a security vetting based on the current regulations around/of security protection. For positions requiring security clearance additional obligations on citizenship may apply.

Kindly observe that this is an ongoing recruitment process and that the position might be filled before the closing date of the advertisement.

Contact information

Gustav Arnby, Manager

gustav.arnby@saabgroup.com

What you will be a part of

Explore a wealth of possibilities. Take on challenges, create smart inventions, and grow beyond. This is a place for curious minds, brave pioneers, and everyone in between. Together, we achieve the extraordinary, each bringing our unique perspectives. Your part matters.

Saab is a leading defense and security company with an enduring purpose, to help nations keep their people and society safe. Empowered by its 28,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer and more sustainable world.

Saab designs, manufactures and maintains advanced systems in aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors and underwater systems. Saab is headquartered in Sweden. It has major operations all over the world and is part of the domestic defense capability of several nations. Read more about us here.