Situation Awareness Assessment Tools for Network Enabled Command and Control Field Evaluations

Advanced Army command and control (C2) technologies will enable Soldiers and teams within and across echelons to “see first, understand first, act first, and finish decisively” in a dynamically changing battlefield. The ability of these systems to ensure tactical success is directly linked to the degree to which they support both the development and maintenance of situation awareness (SA). As these nascent C2 technologies are developed and fielded, it is imperative that they be assessed for their ability to support the development of individual, shared, and team SA. This is easier said than done, particularly during field evaluations. Current methods of measuring and assessing SA are subject to a number of limitations in terms of their sensitivity, validity, reliability, diagnosticity or utility within complex operational environments. A multi-faceted approach to SA measurement is needed to leverage strengths and compensate for inherent limitations of the various techniques for testing and evaluating advanced C2 technologies designed to improve Soldier SA. More specifically, the Army needs an SA assessment toolkit that: (1) contains sensitive and valid individual, shared, and team SA measures, (2) utilizes proven assessment technologies, and (3) guides SA measure selection by mission events, system characteristics, and measurement needs.