Trend Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Research Published in the HFES Proceedings

The present study was designed to examine the research trends in the literature focusing on Human Factors issues relevant to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems. As these UAV technologies continue to proliferate with increasing autonomy and supervisory control requirements, it is crucial to evaluate the current and emerging research trends across the generations. This paper reviews the research trends of 228 papers matching our search criteria. The search retained only relevant and complete papers published over the past thirty years (1988-2017) in the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Results were tabulated, graphed, and discussed based on research categories, topic areas, authors’ affiliation, and sources of funding. Results showed a substantial increase in the number of articles in the last two decades, with most papers driven by academic institutions and military and government agencies.