Incorporating human factor considerations in unmanned aerial vehicle routing

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly valuable military assets, and reliance upon them will continue to increase. Despite lacking an onboard pilot, UAVs require crews of up to three human operators. These crews are already experiencing high workload levels, which is a problem that will be likely compounded as the military envisions a future where a single operator controls multiple UAVs. To accomplish this goal, effective scheduling of UAVs and human operators is crucial to future mission success. We present a mathematical model for simultaneously routing UAVs and scheduling human operators, subject to operator workload considerations. This model is thought to be the first of its kind. Numerical examples demonstrate the dangers of ignoring the human element in UAV routing and scheduling.