TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Ground/Sea Vehicles, Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: OPNAV N125 Human Systems Integration

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a validated suite of tools that guide designers of future surface and undersea platforms in the optimal design of crew to maximize successful mission performance while minimizing the required manning.

DESCRIPTION: Today�s naval leadership is committed to transforming the Navy and ensuring that it is a critical component of the Joint warfighting force. Human Systems Integration (HSI) identifies the human element as a critical component of any complex system and provides a process for considering the human element during system design (Booher, 2003). In the Department of Defense (DoD), it has been recognized that HSI should be initiated early in the acquisition process to ensure that the design and development of future systems meet human performance capabilities (DoD Instruction 5000.1, DoD Directive 5000.2, & Defense Acquisition University). Specifically, DoD Instruction 5000.1 states that an acquisition Program Manager shall apply human systems integration to optimize total system performance, operational effectiveness, and suitability, survivability, safety and affordability�Planning for Operation and Support and the estimation of total ownership costs shall begin as early as possible." (DoDI 5000.1, E1.29, Total Systems Approach).

One facet of human system integration is manpower. It is well known that personnel are a large cost driver over the life cycle of a system. As a result, there has been a push in the Navy to reduce or optimize manning on future Naval platforms to support total system performance. In order to achieve reduced manning, methods and tools that estimate manning requirements must consider various operational scenarios, resources and constraints. However, historically, the methods and tools to derive these estimates have had limitations in that they are subjective and prone to variation. In an attempt to reduce the variation and insert objective data into the manpower estimates, alternative manning and crew design models and tools have been developed. However, these tools also have limitations. First, they tend to focus on either a very high level analysis of a particular crew design or a very granular, detailed analysis of an operator conducting a set of tasks. Second, there are a host of factors that could impact crew performance and these factors have been poorly addressed in manning and crew design tools. Third, there has been little to no empirical validation of the estimates that are produced by these tools.

This suggests that more work must be done to develop a suite of validated tools that accurately estimate shipboard manpower requirements and suggest alternative system designs for optimizing the manpower on future Naval platforms. Effects and interactions of several factors must be addressed in these tools such as: different manning assignments and configurations, different operator skills levels and amounts of training, different mission types, different schedules, the insertion of new technologies and system designs, the introduction of varying levels of task automation, and operational or environmental characteristics that may affect the performance of personnel on future platforms and systems. Examples of these operational or environmental characteristics include human performance stressors such as workload, fatigue, sea state, vibration and temperature.

At a minimum, output of the tools should include a detailed assessment of mission success or failure, analysis of alternative crew and system designs, and predictions of the effects of individual crew member performance moderators (workload, fatigue, sea state, vibration, temperature). Safety and security requirements both in port and at sea should be considered as well.

PHASE I: Develop a flexible framework and architecture for a suite of optimized manning and crew design tools and gather required CONOPS for a selected surface or undersea platform and associated empirical human performance data. Focus on leveraging, extending, and integrating current tools, models, data and algorithms. This framework should include a flexible architecture for considering various parameters and making various predictions such as predictions of the effects of individual crew member performance moderators (workload, fatigue, sea state, vibration, temperature), an assessment of mission success or failure, and analysis of alternative crew designs. The architecture should allow for the insertion of new parameters as they are identified and discovered.

PHASE II: Develop a prototype suite of optimized manning and crew design tools based on the framework established in Phase I. Validate the prototype tools through empirical evaluations with that targeted user community.

PHASE III: Produce and market the suite of optimized manning and crew design tools for integration with future ship and submarine acquisition programs.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The suite of tools could have widespread applications to military, government, and private sector organizations in which crew operated systems must be designed to optimize the tradeoff between manning and performance (e.g., law enforcement, fire fighting and emergency response centers, hospitals, etc.).

REFERENCES:
1. Booher, H. R. (2003). Handbook of Human Systems Integration. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

2. DoD Directive 5000.1 (2003). The Defense Acquisition System.

3. DoD Instruction 5000.2 (2003). Operation of the Defense Acquisition System.

4. Defense Acquisition University. Defense Acquisition Guidebook.

KEYWORDS: human systems integration; human-centered design; crew design; optimized manning; human performance; performance moderators

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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