{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/16656"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/16656","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Natural language processing for unmanned aerial vehicle guidance interfaces","abstract":"In this thesis, the opportunities and challenges involved in applying natural language processing techniques to the control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are addressed. The problem of controlling an unmanned aircraft via natural language inputs is formulated as a feedback control problem, and notions of state, controllability, and observability are defined under this model. An implementation of such a system is also described. The phraseology of the existing air traffic control language is used as a base command set; to form this command set, a corpus of air traffic control commands was gathered from recorded exchanges between pilots and controllers at Boston's Logan Airport, as well as Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA, and these were used as the \"target language\" for this implementation. Knowledge of air traffic control and airport operations, combined with existing natural language processing techniques, is used to achieve a higher recognition success rate than a traditional natural language processor designed for a more general domain of discourse would. This :is the first known attempt at formalizing air traffic control phraseology for use in an unmanned system.","abstract_html":"In this thesis, the opportunities and challenges involved in applying natural language processing techniques to the control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are addressed. The problem of controlling an unmanned aircraft via natural language inputs is formulated as a feedback control problem, and notions of state, controllability, and observability are defined under this model. An implementation of such a system is also described. The phraseology of the existing air traffic control language is used as a base command set; to form this command set, a corpus of air traffic control commands was gathered from recorded exchanges between pilots and controllers at Boston's Logan Airport, as well as Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA, and these were used as the "target language" for this implementation. Knowledge of air traffic control and airport operations, combined with existing natural language processing techniques, is used to achieve a higher recognition success rate than a traditional natural language processor designed for a more general domain of discourse would. This :is the first known attempt at formalizing air traffic control phraseology for use in an unmanned system.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Craparo, Emily M. (Emily Marie), 1980-"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Eric Feron and Robert C. Berwick."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2004,"date_issued":"2004","date_published":"2004","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:51Z","subjects":["Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16656","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Eric Feron and Robert C. Berwick."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Craparo, Emily M. (Emily Marie), 1980-"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2005-05-17T14:49:07Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2005-05-17T14:49:07Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2004"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Aeronautics and Astronautics."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16656"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-78).","This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this thesis, the opportunities and challenges involved in applying natural language processing techniques to the control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are addressed. The problem of controlling an unmanned aircraft via natural language inputs is formulated as a feedback control problem, and notions of state, controllability, and observability are defined under this model. An implementation of such a system is also described. The phraseology of the existing air traffic control language is used as a base command set; to form this command set, a corpus of air traffic control commands was gathered from recorded exchanges between pilots and controllers at Boston's Logan Airport, as well as Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA, and these were used as the \"target language\" for this implementation. Knowledge of air traffic control and airport operations, combined with existing natural language processing techniques, is used to achieve a higher recognition success rate than a traditional natural language processor designed for a more general domain of discourse would. This :is the first known attempt at formalizing air traffic control phraseology for use in an unmanned system."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Natural language processing for unmanned aerial vehicle guidance interfaces"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Eric Feron and Robert C. Berwick."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics"],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"dc:creator":["Craparo, Emily M. (Emily Marie), 1980-"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2005-05-17T14:49:07Z"],"dc:date.available":["2005-05-17T14:49:07Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2004"],"dc:description":["Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-78).","This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections."],"dc:description.abstract":["In this thesis, the opportunities and challenges involved in applying natural language processing techniques to the control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are addressed. The problem of controlling an unmanned aircraft via natural language inputs is formulated as a feedback control problem, and notions of state, controllability, and observability are defined under this model. An implementation of such a system is also described. The phraseology of the existing air traffic control language is used as a base command set; to form this command set, a corpus of air traffic control commands was gathered from recorded exchanges between pilots and controllers at Boston's Logan Airport, as well as Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA, and these were used as the \"target language\" for this implementation. Knowledge of air traffic control and airport operations, combined with existing natural language processing techniques, is used to achieve a higher recognition success rate than a traditional natural language processor designed for a more general domain of discourse would. This :is the first known attempt at formalizing air traffic control phraseology for use in an unmanned system."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16656"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Aeronautics and Astronautics."],"dc:title":["Natural language processing for unmanned aerial vehicle guidance interfaces"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:51Z"}