The Resource for Applied Cognitive Engineering - (TRACE)

Future C4ISR capabilities must provide warfighters with the abilities to clearly and comprehensively understand the battlespace and quickly decide on appropriate courses of action. Future systems must account for the cognitive capabilities and limitations of users, giving warfighters the ability to truly "leverage asymmetric advantages". Better, faster decision making by warfighters is the ultimate goal; developing new systems that will support the warfighters in reaching this goal is part of the solution. Traditional systems engineering practices do not expressly consider cognitive factors, consider them but underestimate their importance, or consider them too late in the design process. Cognitive engineering methods must be embedded within the systems engineering process, but their application to systems design is still a difficult, risky process. Intelligent designers with the best of intentions can create a system that is hopelessly unusable for its users. Even designers with knowledge of usability pitfalls can develop a system that does not support its users. We propose developing The Resource for Applied Cognitive Engineering (TRACE), a web-based resource to be used in conjunction with the current Defense Acquisition System. By embedding cognitive engineering processes into systems engineering practices, TRACE will help bridge these gaps between these two disciplines.