Report on C4i Study: Using an Electronic C4i System to examine the effects of Information Source and Decay
Abstract
This document reports on the results of a study conducted to examine the effects of three C4i techniques; command wall technique (electronic), embodied by the Brunel command wall system, compared to a traditional paper map technique (paper) and a traditional radio and map technique (radio). The participants, acting in the role of commander, were randomly assigned to one of these techniques (a between subjects design). Their task was to undertake a Battlefield Area Evaluation (BAE), in which the main output was a Situation Overlay representing the actual state of the Battlespace. Information used in the construction of the Situation Overlay was extracted from the environment by three Field Agents who reported on specific informational artefacts placed around a defined search area.
The aims of the study were:
- To discover whether or not there are significant differences between the three systems, and if so what these are.
- To discover any improvements that could be made, from a user perspective, to the new electronic C4i system.
There were some clear human performance implications arising from the use of each command technology. The electronic (command wall) condition was associated with significantly quicker performance, with respect to creating the situation overlay, compared to both of the other conditions. The radio condition, however, did have a significantly faster decision time than the electronic condition. There were no significant differences for decision 'accuracy' (the percentage of correct features) between the three conditions, although the electronic system led to significantly less features being missed from the situation overlay than the paper system. In terms of situational awareness, there is evidence to suggest that the type and structure of know ledge differs between the three conditions. No significant differences were detected for mental workload, usability and, importantly, decision quality. Although there were no improvements on these dimensions between the conditions, there were also no decrements. Therefore, despite differences in situational awareness, the electronic condition enables commanders to achieve comparable levels of decision quality, workload, and usability, but quicker than traditional techniques.
The exercise also revealed a number of further issues to be carried forward into the design of the electronic system, for example, the decision exercise and the temporal aspects of the scenario are both features that warrant further attention.
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