The Effects of Multimodal Collaboration Technology on Subjective Workload Profiles of Tactical Air Battle Management Teams

Abstract : A tactical air battle management task required a team of two weapons directors, two strike operators, and a tanker operator to communicate with each other in order to coordinate offensive and defensive air attacks, and aerial refueling. This study compared the impact of two types of communication modalities (Voice or Picture Chat) and the number of enemy targets (4 or 6) on team performance and perceived team workload. Three subjective workload scales were evaluated in their ability to characterize task difficulty, communication demands, and demands of the different team roles.

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