In the high-stakes domain of search-and-rescue missions, the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has become increasingly pivotal. These missions require seamless, real-time communication among diverse roles within response teams, particularly between Remote Operators (ROs) and On-Site Operators (OSOs). Traditionally, ROs and OSOs have relied on radio communication to exchange critical information, such as the geolocation of victims, hazardous areas, and points of interest. However, radio communication lacks information visualization, suffers from noise, and requires mental effort to interpret information, leading to miscommunications and misunderstandings. To address these challenges, this paper presents VizCom-AR, an Augmented Reality system designed to facilitate visual communication between ROs and OSOs and their situational awareness during UAV-driven search-and-rescue missions. Our experiments, focus group sessions with police officers, and field study showed that VizCom-AR enhances spatial awareness of both ROs and OSOs, facilitate geolocation information exchange, and effectively complement existing communication tools in UAV-driven emergency response missions. Overall, VizCom-AR offers a fundamental framework for designing Augmented Reality systems for large scale UAV-driven rescue missions.

翻译：在搜救任务这一高风险领域，无人机的部署已变得日益关键。此类任务要求响应团队中不同角色之间实现无缝的实时通信，特别是远程操作员与现场操作员之间。传统上，远程操作员与现场操作员依赖无线电通信来交换关键信息，例如受害者的地理位置、危险区域和兴趣点。然而，无线电通信缺乏信息可视化、易受噪声干扰，且需要耗费脑力解读信息，从而导致沟通不畅和误解。为应对这些挑战，本文提出了VizCom-AR——一个旨在促进远程操作员与现场操作员之间视觉通信并提升其在无人机搜救任务中态势感知能力的增强现实系统。我们的实验、与警务人员进行的焦点小组讨论以及实地研究表明，VizCom-AR能同时提升远程操作员与现场操作员的空间感知能力，促进地理位置信息交换，并能有效补充现有通信工具在无人机应急响应任务中的应用。总体而言，VizCom-AR为设计面向大规模无人机救援任务的增强现实系统提供了一个基础框架。