Identifying and Capturing the Cognitive Demands Imposed by New Systems

The fast pace of technological change has pushed military procurement into a design environment in which traditional evolutionary design methods no longer satisfy the need to take advantage of the new functionality that is now emerging. No aspect of thisnew demand is more taxing than the design for human participation. A more systematic, human-oriented approach is needed to elicit and define the cognitive requirements associated with new systems. In this project, we plan to resolve these issues by meldingthe constraint based approach of Cognitive Work Analysis with a task-based modeling approach to down-select scenarios and explore critical cases in preparation for resolving cognitive issues with constructive and Human in the Loop simulation. The proposedmethod will move the design of human integration for complex multi-person human-machine systems from an ad hoc process that is largely based on heuristics toward a more systematic, scientific process based on analysis and modeling. In Phase I of thisproject, we have assessed the role of simulation in system acquisition and undertaken cognitive analysis of some aspects of our client system, the Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft. We have also developed strategies and formal guidelines fortranslating results of the cognitive analysis into forms suitable for the task-based modeling. The primary effort for Phase II is to complete the cognitive analysis and complete the development of our task-based modeling system. We will then combine thesein a systems acquisition aid. An aid to support design of human-system integration requirements for complex, large-scale systems within the context of a rapidly developing technological base will ensure a better match between system functions,organizational and team structures, and human cognitive and physical capabilities. It will be applicable to the conceptual design of any complex system that includes human participants. Examples include air and space vehicles, air traffic control, spacemission control, metropolitan emergency management, nuclear power plants, and police command and control units. We believe there is a virtually unlimited market for methods and aids that can support formative design within today's challenging designenvironment.