Electronic Warfare in the Fifth Dimension: Human Factors Automation Policies and Strategies for Enhanced Situational Awareness and SEAD Performance

摘要

The process of supporting human operators in the very difficult task of electronic warfare (EW) is considered because it is representative of the need to flexibly operate systems and equipment from one conflict to another. It is argued that the weak element of the partnership is often the system and not the human, as it is normally portrayed. It is proposed that the design of future systems enable effective representations of operation to create transparent operation of the equipment. It is argued that the functional capability of the EW system should be universal, or as close to universal in operation to facilitate learning, operation, and error recovery. Transparency and universality of operation are required to aid the development of an effective user mental-model of system operation, to enhance trust, increase authority, and facilitate collaborative process management. Finally, the pace and demands of the system must create synergy between the operator and the task demands, balancing workload across time in a multi-tasking environment. (57 refs.).