Bill Edwards
The counter unmanned aerial systems (C‑UAS) operator leaned over her workstation, eyes darting between a cluster of windows scattered across her graphical interface. Each pane represented a different data layer, a different sensor, a different fragment of the operational picture she was expected to hold together in real time. This was on one monitor, but several others existed as well. As she toggled and switched her focus between them, the degradation of situational awareness was immediate and unmistakable. What began as a manageable task with a single data stream quickly became cognitive overload when multiplied across six or more independent feeds.
The operator was no longer fighting the drone; she was fighting the interface. In that moment, the system itself became the adversary. This is not an isolated observation. It is a systemic flaw that has quietly embedded itself into the fabric of modern C-UAS operations, and unless we confront it directly, we will continue to ask operators to perform the impossible. Now, multiply that by potentially six or more data streams in a layered sensor approach, and you have just created operational paralysis. We have given local law enforcement sensors, not solutions. We must do better.
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