Team Performance Metrics for Command and Control of Unmanned Systems

The increase in unmanned systems, also known as UxVs, on the battlefield creates the need for coordinated activity among multiple UxVs that work effectively in collaboration with the Warfighters who must be able to rapidly and easily command their operations, insure their compliance with intent in a highly unpredictable world, and receive needed situation awareness (SA) from their sensors. In order to move toward a lower, more efficient UxV to operator ratio, it is critical that we develop a better understanding of real time hybrid human-UxV team performance, so that key decision makers can assess transaction efficiencies given autonomy and control parameters. Unfortunately, little has been done to develop robust and valid metrics of hybrid human-UxV team performance. A key to improving the performance of human-UxV teams, then, lies in developing these metrics so that decision makers can assess performance in real time through intuitive visualizations. To meet this need, SA Technologies proposes to use both their performance measurement assessment system developed in past research and their cutting edge, principled situation awareness-oriented design process (SAOD) to develop a theoretically-derived Actionable Performance Evaluation Index (APEX) analysis and visualization tool. APEX will facilitate peak performance for hybrid human-UxV teams.