About This Project

Emergency responders are starting to use live video from drones to help them assess large-scale disasters. My goal is to help them make the most of this new resource. The first step in doing this is to understand their decision making process and how they use the information that is currently available. This will enable me to determine how introducing this new source of information will impact the cognitive work being performed during an incident.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Using drones to assess and monitor an incident scene holds the promise of faster, better organized, and better executed responses to large-scale disasters without risking lives and at a lower cost than traditional means.

Unfortunately no one has yet done a systematic analysis of how this new capability can complement current practices. A preliminary study that I conducted at The Ohio State University suggested that this new resource can actually have negative side effects if it is not employed properly. Part of the issue was that the ICs over relied on what they could see in the video and neglected other important information. This work clearly needs to be followed up if we are to make the most of drones in emergency management.

What is the significance of this project?

The results of this study will help the Emergency Management community understand how they can best leverage drones and the aerial video they provide to support their planning and decision making.

Currently the video from drones is shown on a simple video monitor with
little or no other supporting information. This means that the users
must perform the cognitive work of orienting and integrating the video with other displays and sources information, or as indicated in the previous study, become preoccupied with the video feed.

The key to doing this will be to understand when and where live video can compliment currently available sources of information as part of an integrated decision support and planning system.

What are the goals of the project?

My first goal is to understand the current practices, strategies, and information needs of ICs as they assess, monitor, and respond to an incident.

To prepare for this I will attend advanced classes on Emergency Management that will build on the courses that I attended before the earlier study. I will also travel to observe ICs multiple live fire training exercises.

My next goal is to conduct a Cognitive Task Analysis in order to understand how they organize and structure the information they receive including when and why they access a particular source of information. One of the most common methods of CTA is a structured, in-depth interview with experienced practitioners. I will conduct a series of interviews with ICs who will collaborate with me on this project.