Provision of a Synthetic Environment to Support HFI
Abstract
A Synthetic Environment (SE) test bed was developed which was designed to provide a reconfigurable tool to support Human Factors Integration (HFI) activities. Human performance measures were embedded within the SE.
The SE test bed investigated the human factors (HF) issues relating to the use of uninhabited vehicles (UVs) in urban operations. The SE test bed investigated the impact of the automation strategy, locus of control and the number of UVs under control on human performance. This investigation was carried out in a hypothetical ‘Concept’ stage of the CADMID life cycle.
The overall project objectives were to:
- Demonstrate (and provide a process for) the use of SEs in whole lifecycle engineering and across HFI domains;
- Investigate the particular HF issues related to the use of uninhabited vehicles in urban environments;
- Provide an exploitable tool for MoD Integrated Project Teams (IPTs).
Participants were asked to take on the role of a remote or a local, dismounted soldier. The mobile soldier led a team on the ground of three computer-controlled characters and a second human controlled a mobile soldier (trials consultant). They were instructed to carry out a patrol under peace sustainment rules of engagement.
The study demonstrated that SE technology could be used to carry out human factors activities as part of HFI. Use of open standards and ‘High Level Architecture’ (HLA) enabled a potentially reusable SE to be developed.
The results suggest that overall, automation strategy did affect performance, with the manual control strategy enabling better performance than the automated control strategy. The locus of control, on the other hand, did not appear to have much effect on performance although there was subjective preference for the remote soldier to be in command of the UVs. An increased number of UVs was also associated with better performance.
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