Methods & Metrics to Measure the Impact of Knowledge Superiority Technologies on the Warfighter

Many new hardware and software technologies are currently under consideration for improving warfighter situation awareness, task performance, and decision making onboard Navy ships. If successful, these systems have the capability of not only improvingthe effectiveness of our armed forces, but also aiding in reducing manpower requirements on ships, a current, high priority Navy goal. To achieve this goal, however, requires that the Navy is able to quickly and accurately assess the costs and benefitsassociated with these new concepts so that worthwhile tools can be incorporated into future system designs and other concepts discarded prior to incurring the extensive development costs associated with such technologies. In this SBIR, we will develop anAutomated Measurement Battery that contains a set of human performance evaluation methods and metrics that allow the impact of new technologies on human performance to be assessed in a reliable, valid and consistent manner. The linkage between such humanperformance measures and resultant shipboard manning requirements will also be provided by the tool. The Automated Measurement Battery developed under this program will have commercialization potential in many different venues where similar challengesexist for evaluating new technologies for human interfaces. First it can be used to guide decision making on future U. S. Navy programs, and on the programs of allied forces (e.g. UK Applied Research Programme). In addition, it is anticipated that thetool would have considerable applicability to similar design decisions for other DOD systems (Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard) and large, complex non-military systems (e.g. NASA, DOE). Private sector applications also have considerablecommercialization potential, including manufacturing and power plant operations, air traffic control systems, commercial maritime applications and command and control systems.