The present qualitative study conducts in-depth interviews with astronauts and other subject matter experts in order to shed light on human adaptability in extreme environments. Deep space travel will entail a range of highly stressful conditions to which astronauts must adapt. Feelings of isolation will be increased, as the space traveler is farther from Earth for longer periods of time. Daily life will take place in small and confined areas, for durations extending into years. The dangers of the extreme environment of space are ever-present, and failure of critical equipment or components can lead to death. Astronauts will need to function more autonomously, with diminished support from Earth. It is thus important to select and train future astronauts who are able to adapt to such extreme and variable conditions and continue to function effectively. Subject matter experts identify the central adaptive challenges faced by crewmembers, and what are the key individual attributes associated with human adaptability. Results also point to organizational factors, as well as several coping and resource strategies that can be applied to improve human adaptability to extreme environments and missions. These results can be used to inform selection and training programs, as well as the design of space vehicles, systems, and habitats in order to enhance astronaut adaptive task performance.
Military Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) is conducted under operationally realistic conditions across a full spectrum of military operations to determine the readiness of a system to be fielded. OT&E seeks to assess the operational effectiveness and suitability of the system under test. Operational effectiveness measures the overall ability of a system to enable mission accomplishment when used by warfighters in a representative operational environment. Operational effectiveness seeks to evaluate organization, doctrine, and tactics. Operational suitability measures the overall ability of a system to be placed in field use. Operational suitability assesses reliability, availability, and human factors.To date, little effort has been placed on evaluating the warfighters' performance as part of the overall ability of the system to enable mission accomplishment. In fact, any warfighter performance issues are normally reported by exception, which means that it is not evaluated unless a problem is identified during testing (i.e., there is no formal plan to evaluate the warfighter performance component of overall system performance). Most analysis focused on the human factor has been done through the use of opinion surveys. Although, opinion surveys can provide insight into how well a warfighter likes a new system, they do not provide information on the new system's impacts on the warfighters' cognitive capabilities and ultimate performance, nor on the impact on the performance of a team of warfighters.Over many years, the human factors domain has developed measures of cognition (mental workload, situation awareness, decision making, etc.) and teamwork (collaboration, coordination, shared SA, social network analysis, etc.) that should be applied during military OT&E. These types of human factor measures can be used to evaluate both operational effectiveness and suitability, providing a method of analyzing the human component in mission effectiveness and the impact of the system under test on the human component. Without objectively evaluating the human component of the overall system, it is impossible to truly evaluate operational effectiveness and suitability.This panel will present the need for more objective, comprehensive, and automatically-collected human performance measurements in military OT&E, and earlier in the development and testing, especially in relation to command and control (C2) systems, as well as touch upon the potentially useful human factor measures currently available and how to select the correct ones to use.
Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. ii The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or positions of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. All information and sources for this paper were drawn from unclassified materials. REPORT DATE SEP 20072 Richard Chait is a Distinguished Chapter 1. IntroductionIn a previous study on technology for stabilization and reconstructions operations, hereafter SRO(I), the authors 1 evaluated current stabilization and reconstruction (S&R) operations requirements and identified for Dr. Tom Killion, the Army Science and Technology (S&T) Executive, areas in which Army capabilities could be improved with advanced technologies. Stabilization and reconstruction operations establish, retain, and exploit security and control over areas, populations, and resources to employ military capabilities to restore essential services and facilitate the reestablishment of civil order and authority.2 They involve both coercive and cooperative actions and occur before, during, and after offensive and defensive operations.The S&R 3 mission has become no less pressing for the Army since the first report was written. America remains heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. These two conflicts, whatever their substantial differences, demand a force trained and equipped to move back and forth between combat operations and civil administration, from coercive to cooperative action, from responding with lethal force to responding with a greeting in a foreign language. Such requirements will not fade with these wars' conclusions. The Department of Defense (DOD) has recognized S&R as an enduring responsibility, stating in Directive 3000.05 that "stability operations are a core U.S. military mission…" to be "…given priority comparable to combat operations and be explicitly addressed and integrated across all DOD activities…"4 No matter what the nature of future conflicts, victory hinges not only on defeat of opposition military forces but on the creation of a sustainable peace shaped by U.S. interests. The full spectrum of operations, from war planning to combat to aftermath, must be informed by the ultimate need to successfully execute stabil...
Achieving the goal of collaboration and synchronization of efforts across the total systems life cycle will require the Army to integrate and harmonize acquisition, training, testing and analytical modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities in an unprecedented manner. A prerequisite to achieving the desired level of synchronization is the requirement to complete a technology needs assessment that identifies, characterizes, assesses, and prioritizes M&S Science and Technology (S&T) needs that are traceable to recognized Army needs. The Battle Command, Simulation and Experimentation (BCSE) Directorate in the Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7 has taken the initiative to complete a series of technology assessments and is creating a corresponding series of focus area centric Army M&S S&T Investment Plans to guide investments and to impact institutional processes external to the G-3/5/7. This paper describes the Army M&S S&T Investment Plan creation process for the Battle Command focus area.
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