RBAC-Based UAV Control System for Multiple Operator Environments

Abstract

Nowadays, there are many researches on UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) control systems for disaster monitoring, national defense and surveillance applications, which mainly focus on flight performance of UAV or multiple UAV control by single operator. This paper presents design and implementation of an effective system for multiple operators to control UAVs based on RBAC (Role Based Access Control). In the proposed system, a UAV is connected to the UAV control server, and operators remotely access to the UAV by connecting to the server using various devices such as smart phones, desktops, and laptops at the same time. Each operator can control the UAV based on RBAC, in other words, operators are granted with permissions which are corresponding to the given roles. For example, the administrator may have all the permissions defined in the system and a pilot has a role where the flight control and flight status permissions are granted. In addition, operators may have a role with the camera tilt control and video access permissions. The major advantage of RBAC-based approach is to prevent unnecessary operational confusion, conflict and mistake under multi-operator UAV environments. Another advantage is to increase efficiency and accuracy of UAV mission control by allowing a mission to be decomposed into specific roles.