New Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) Techniques Development

A software-based system is proposed, the Dynamically Adaptive Resource Tool (DART), to help operators manage information intense monitoring systems in militarily relevant operational settings. Different approaches to managing team workload overload,under load and losses of vigilance are discussed. The approach with the most likelihood of success is described as a system that uses adaptive automation to enhance information gathering operator resources. It is conceived to be an interface used forboth training and operations that 1.) displays the current effectiveness of an operator based on past or expected performance, 2.) provides visual and auditory means to alert the operator to significant decreases in effectiveness, 3.) adjusts informationtransfer rate and presentation rate based on the operator's effectiveness and 4.) to re-distribute task workload to other team members as needed.The objective of this approach is to integrate sophisticated workload modeling and analysis tools to helpmanage real-time operator performance. The DART will be able optimize the distribution of information, resources and enhance the performance of the system. Such a tool would be ideal for training since other operators on the team would not have to bepresent for the system to respond to pre-programmed scenarios.