From its experience gained by controlling multiple simulated aircraft in a training environment both with and without pseudo-pilots, and in developing the cockpit speech system for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter Adacel has evolved speech recognition (SR) technology that can translate UAV operator commands into a format capable of being processed by a UAV or UAV control station,

Indeed, previous work has already validated the efficiencies available via this approach. In an experiment conducted at the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2003, unmanned vehicle operators were given the ability to manage their aircraft via voice. From their abstract:

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control stations feature multiple menu pages with systems accessed by keyboard presses. Use of speech-based input may enable operators to navigate through menus and select options more quickly. This experiment examined the utility of conventional manual input versus speech input for tasks performed by operators of a UAV control station simulator at two levels of mission difficulty. Pilots performed a continuous flight/navigation control task while completing eight different data entry task types with each input modality. Results showed that speech input was significantly better than manual input in terms of task completion time, task accuracy, flight/navigation measures, and pilot ratings. Across tasks, data entry time was reduced by approximately 40% with speech input.

Advantages of Voice Controlled UAV Station Control More UAV’s Better Situational Awareness Better Safety Checks and Checklist Management Reduction in Data Input Errors** Faster Training Time and No Pilot Requirement Productivity increase and cost savings for rehearsal, training and operational missions Single Operator Control Functions of Both Pilot and Payload Specialist Increase in Operator Standardization **USAFRL Study: Manual Versus Speech Input for Unmanned Air Vehicle Control Station Operations (2003)