Effect of Display Design and Situation Complexity on Operator Performance

The U.S. Navy is currently developing its next-generation cruise missile, the Tactical Tomahawk, which improves upon current versions by its ability to be retargeted in flight against emergent time-critical targets. In this study, we developed an advanced operator interface prototype for monitoring, controlling and retargeting the Tactical Tomahawk missile and empirically tested the effect of mission complexity on the ability of shipboard operators to maintain situational awareness in various operational scenarios. The first phase of research involved a domain analysis of three primary domains: the weapon system; time-critical decisionmaking; and principles of interface design. The second phase was a concurrent Cognitive Work/Task Analysis (CW/TA) and scenario development effort. The third phase was interface component design followed by complete prototype implementation. In the final phase, we trained and tested twenty graduate students on the dynamic and interactive prototype, based on hypotheses pertaining to both monitoring and retargeting tasks. Statistical results support two primary conclusions. First, operators can maintain adequate situational awareness when monitoring eight missiles and twelve targets simultaneously. Second, results support the use of the missile timebar feature in the interface to compare events. Subjective results indicate the requirement for a robust decision support tool to facilitate rapid retargeting decisions. These and other results form the basis for recommendations to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) about how to most effectively allocate personnel resources in the design of a command and control watchstation for the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile system.