Digitising Command and Control: A Human Factors and Ergonomics Analysis of Mission Planning and Battlespace Management

by Daniel P Jenkins, Guy H Walker, Laura A Rafferty, Kirsten M A Revell, Paul M Salmon

Overview

This book presents a human factors and ergonomics evaluation of a digital Mission Planning and Battle-space Management (MP/BM) system. An emphasis was placed on the activities at the Brigade (Bde) and the Battle Group (BG) headquarters (HQ) levels. The analysts distributed their time evenly between these two locations. The human factors team from Brunel University, as part of the HFI DTC, undertook a multi-faceted approach to the investigation, including:

- observation of people using the traditional analogue MP/BM processes in the course of their work
- cognitive work analysis of the digital MP/BM system
- analysis of the tasks and goal structure required by the digital MP/BM
- assessment against a usability questionnaire
- analysis of the distributed situation awareness
- an environmental survey.

The book concludes with a summary of the research project's findings and offers many valuable insights. For example, the recommendations for short-term improvements in the current generation of digital MP/BM system address general design improvements, user-interface design improvements, hardware improvements, infrastructure improvements and support improvements. In looking forward to the next generation digital MP/BM systems, general human factors design principles are presented and human factors issues in digitising mission planning are considered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409486114
Publisher:	Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	10/01/2012
Series:	Human Factors in Defence
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Professor Stanton holds a Chair in Human Factors in the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed journal papers and 14 books on Human Factors and Ergonomics. In 1998 he was awarded the Institution of Electrical Engineers Divisional Premium Award for a co-authored paper on Engineering Psychology and System Safety. The Ergonomics Society awarded him the Otto Edholm medal in 2001 and The President's Medal in 2008 for his contribution to basic and applied ergonomics research. In 2007 The Royal Aeronautical Society awarded him the Hodgson Medal and Bronze Award with colleagues for their work on flight deck safety. Professor Stanton is an editor of the journal Ergonomics and on the editorial boards of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science and the International Journal of Human Computer Interaction. Professor Stanton is a Fellow and Chartered Occupational Psychologist registered with The British Psychological Society, and a Fellow of The Ergonomics Society. He has a BSc (Hons) in Occupational Psychology from the University of Hull, an MPhil in Applied Psychology and a PhD in Human Factors from Aston University in Birmingham.

Dan Jenkins Graduated in 2004 from Brunel University with an MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and Design receiving the 'University Prize' for top student in the department. With over two years experienced as a Design Engineer in the Automotive Industry, Dan has worked in a number of roles throughout the world. This wide range of placements has developed experience encompassing design, engineering, project management and commercial awareness. Dan returned to Brunel in 2005 to become a Research Fellow in the Ergonomics Research Group, working primarily on the HFI-DTC project. Studying part-time, Dan gained his PhD in Human Factors and Interaction Design in 2008. Both academically and within industry Dan has always had a strong focus on customer orientated design; design for inclusion; and human factors. Dan has authored and co-authored numerous journal paper, conference articles, book chapters and books.

Paul Salmon is a Senior Research Fellow in the Human Factors Group at Monash University and holds a BSc in Sports Science and an MSc in Applied Ergonomics, (both from the University of Sunderland). Paul has over six years experience in applied human factors research in a number of domains, including the military, civil and general aviation, rail and road transport and has previously worked on a variety of research projects in these areas. This has led to Paul gaining expertise in a broad range of areas, including human error, situation awareness, and the application of human factors methods, including human error identification, situation awareness measurement, teamwork assessment, task analysis and cognitive task analysis methods. Paul's current research interests include the areas of situation awareness in command and control, human error and the application of human factors methods in sport. Paul has authored and co-authored various scientific journal articles, conference articles, book chapters and books and was recently awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society Hodgson Prize for a co-authored paper in the society's Aeronautical journal.

Guy Walker has a BSc Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Southampton and a PhD in Human Factors from Brunel University. His research interests are wide ranging, spanning driver behaviour and the role of feedback in vehicles, railway safety and the issue of signals passed at danger, and the application of sociotechnical systems theory to the design and evaluation of military command and control systems. Guy is the author/co-author of over forty peer reviewed journal articles and several books. This volume was produced during his time as Senior Research Fellow within the HFI DTC. Along with his colleagues in the research consortium, Guy was awarded the Ergonomics Society’s President’s Medal for the practical application of Ergonomics theory. Guy currently resides in the School of the Built Environment at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, working at the cross-disciplinary interface between engineering and people.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface; Overview of the book; Human factors in system design; Mission planning and battlespace management; Constraint analysis; Hierarchical task analysis; Distributed situation awareness; Social network analysis; SCADA analysis; Usability questionnaire; Environmental survey; Summary: conclusions and recommendations; References; Indexes.