From Clansman to ComBAT: HFI Principles for NEC System Design
Abstract
What is this report about?
The report is about how to design networked, interoperable equipment such as that found within NEC domains. Part 1 presents the theoretical rationale for Part 2, which sets out a collection of high level design principles.
Background and reasoning behind the work
The research extends the scope of sociotechnical systems theory, firstly by relating it to the military context, and secondly by drawing down insights normally applied to large scale systems, and applying them to a growing class of networked, interoperable equipment.
What was undertaken in the research?
Part 1 takes the example of military communications hardware and shows how its development from Clansman to ComBAT can be understood in sociotechnical systems terms. The research demonstrates that not only can systems concepts be applied to ‘equipment’ but moreover, it is an entirely appropriate conceptual response in the NEC era. Part 2 distils these insights, synthesises them with key literature and presents a set of high level design principles that hint at what this may mean practically.
What was discovered?
Under the aegis of NEC, an ever expanding array of military equipment has the facility to support as yet un-thought of future capability. This brings with it profound changes in the way that equipment/systems should be designed and thought about. From the evolution of military equipment to its co-evolution with human users, from a focus on what equipment ‘is’ to what it ‘does’, in sum, a case is developed in favour of equipment (and its procurement) that is as open, flexible, agile and self-synchronising as the NEC system into which it is designed to operate. Based on experience in the commercial domain explicit design principles suggest how this might be practically achieved.
Military relevance of the work
There is an extraordinary amount of overlap between the nascent military domain of NEC and the well established field of sociotechnical systems theory. The insights derived from this synergy can be used to re-examine the way in which equipment is designed and procured in the NEC era. The lessons learnt from ComBAT/Bowman provide a mandate to consider alternative approaches. The sociotechnical systems viewpoint currently under development is one such candidate.
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