Review of current Synthetic Environment capability

What is this report about?

This report is a review of current Synthetic Environment (SE) capability. A total of 36 SEs were reviewed. These were drawn from the institutions within the HFI DTC Consortium (Aerosystems International, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Brunel University, System Engineering and Assessment Ltd, Cranfield University) and other institutions such as British Aerospace, CAE and Manchester University. This was supported through interviews with Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) and representatives from the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and Synthetic Environments Coordination Office (SECO).

What problem does the report address?

The report addresses findings from earlier work which indicated that the HFI process is not well supported by SE's. The report gives findings from a gap analysis conducted to identify what HFI processes are currently unsupported by SEs, explore how existing SEs and tools can be tailored to MoD needs and identify emerging HFI requirements for SE's.

What is the benefit of this work?

This report identifies all requirements for future work on SE's within the HFI DTC. In addition, an accompanying Access database contains all details of the SE's surveyed and therefore acts as a potential resource for reuse of SE's previously developed.

Who should take note of it?

IPT HFI Foci
HF Practitioners

What is the report's status?

Issue 1 (issued in combination with Access Database of SEs).

What are the main issues addressed in the report?

The main issue addressed in the report relates to the gap between the requirements of the HFI process and the capabilities of the SE's surveyed, the methodologies to support SE development and the emerging requirements from new technologies.

What are the findings?

Findings from the gap analysis relate to the following areas:

Technical Capabilities of SE's
Interaction Capabilities of SE's
HFI Domain Support provided by SE's
HFI Methodologies and Topic Areas
CADMID Stage Support by SE's

What is recommended?

The extent of reuse or extension be considered when specifying the requirements for the SE.
A requirements-based approach be taken to the degree of representational or behavioural fidelity present in an SE.
SEs should be developed with a view to providing flexible support to the project over all CADMID stages, especially Manufacture and Disposal.
SEs used in the concept and assessment phases of current MoD projects should be taken forward to the later stages of the CADMID cycle.
Structured methodologies for SE development should be investigated.
Future requirements in the human factors areas that are receiving little support should be assessed. This review should take a holistic view of the range of possibilities that are available for the assessment of human factors issues.
A human performance measures database should be developed. This database should integrate with SE's and provide a consistent model of human capabilities and limitations that can be used in simulations.

Why bother?

A high-level review of the information in the SE database shows that projects gain the following benefits from using SEs:

Synthetic environments are a mitigating factor against various types of project risk. Rapid prototyping allows conceptual designs and human factors issues to be tested without the need for physical mock-ups.
Visualisation enhances communication between people from different technical backgrounds by encouraging a common understanding of issues, especially of interactions within complex systems.
SEs can enable people and equipment to interact with models and simulations prior to active service. Many projects have used this ability to enhance training courses.
Computer simulations of the behaviour of the environment or new equipment can be provided at varying levels of fidelity. There is a continuum of design maturity from individual pieces of equipment in isolation to integrated systems. Simulations of “back end” system behaviour can be used during the design when the real system is not available. A modular approach offers advantages in cost savings and software re-use.