Assessing Human Factors in Command and Control: Workload and Situational Awareness Metrics
Abstract
The effects of digitized command and control on commanders workload and situational awareness (SA) were experimentally investigated in a simulated battle group scenario. Military participants acted in pairs to lead the planning and execution of a land reconnaissance operation, controlling the deployment of various units and sensor assets to find and fix an enemy. The subjects performed two versions of the exercise: one in which all communications between the HQ and its battlefield units occurred using the standard voice radio net, and a second version in which most of the interactions were either augmented or replaced with digital technology such as data-link, text messaging and automatic location reporting. During the execution phase, the command teams responded to various measures of workload and SA, described in the paper. These data, backed up with subject debriefings, provided several key insights into the impact of digitization. For example, it appears that the automatic presentation of enemy positional data reduced the depth to which commanders mentally processed incoming sighting information, thus reducing their sense of confidence in understanding the enemy picture. The pros and cons of the measures used are discussed, along with lessons learned.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA467497
Entities
People
- Barry Mcguinness
- Louise Ebbage