VICTORIA Class Submarine Human-in-the-Loop Experimentation Plan
Abstract
Command team personnel aboard submarines are faced with unique Command and Control (C2) challenges imposed by the limitations of crew size and operating environment. Submarines are often described as operating blind with a high level of uncertainty which puts many constraints on the decision making capabilities of the command team (Hautamaki, Bagnall, & Small, 2005; Dominguez, Long, Miller, Wiggins 2006; Kirschenbaum & Arruda, 1994). Research on submarine command teams suggests a number of difficulties related to data uncertainty and assimilation, environmental uncertainty, as well as team related issues such as workload and communication (Hautamaki et al, 2005; Jones, Steed, Diedrich, Armbruster & Jackson, 2011). To better understand the specific challenges of the Canadian Forces VICTORIA Class submarines (VCS) command team, Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC) Atlantic Research Centre completed a number of Cognitive Work Analyses (CWA) - including a Work Organization Analysis, a Cognitive Transformations Analysis (CogTA) and a Strategies Analysis (Chalmers, 2010, 2011). These analyses revealed a number of C2 challenges related to the ease with which the Commanding Officer (CO) and Watch Leader (WL) were able to assimilate mission-relevant information to aid effective warfighting performance. These findings are in line with the cognitive difficulties identified by Dominguez et al (2006) who also found that the CO had difficulties assimilating information and managing the uncertainty inherent in submarine operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA607055
Entities
People
- Alan J. Hunter
- Mark Hazen
- T. Randall
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada