Human Systems Integration (HSI) utilizes a variety of analysis methods to evaluate systems with respect to seven key domains: manpower, personnel, training, human factors engineering, personnel survivability, habitability and safety & occupational health. A critical part of the "I" in HSI is the tradeoff analysis where system features and attributes are "traded-off" to satisfy constraints on system life cycle cost, performance, and development/delivery schedule. Members of this panel will discuss general HSI tradeoff lessons learned based on their experiences in support of Naval surface acquisition programs, focusing on the mechanics of initiating and completing HSI tradeoff analyses. These experiences include interactions with people and hardware/software (e.g., data collection, formatting, processing, etc.), timelines/deadlines to complete analyses and make decisions, and any required support activities (e.g., meetings, briefings, etc.). Each panelist will share experiences from the perspective of one of three key acquisition positions for HSI: Technical Professional, Program Manager, or Support Contractor.
Human systems integration (HSI) is integral to any comprehensive system engineering process. HSI is defined by the International Conference on System Engineering as “interdisciplinary technical and management processes for integrating human considerations within and across all system elements; an essential enabler to systems engineering practice.” But how does one accomplish this interdisciplinary integration? This paper highlights the essential role of the warfighter as an overarching elicitor and integrator of system requirements, and how to effectively exploit this crucial resource. All complex systems are developed to be used and maintained in a specific operational environment by a trained user. It is therefore imperative that the unique operational perspectives of those users are made part of the design and development process. There are several key opportunities within the acquisition process where qualified, representative users play a significant role in refining the system's requirements and defining how the total system will perform. Active participation from the warfighter and user community in the design process will aid in identifying issues early enough to make a meaningful influence on design, fosters warfighter acceptance of the system, reduces the risks associated with warfighter alterations to system configurations, and validates total system performance using human in the loop evaluations.
The United States Navy is placing strong emphasis on ensuring that future naval platforms are not only affordable and effective, but also operable and maintainable with fewer personnel. The realization of optimal manning and optimal ownership costs requires that the human be considered as a major component of the ship and its associated systems early in the acquisition process. Toward that end, systems engineers must have tools and processes to support human-centered engineering from the outset of the design, and must be able to exchange human performance and cost data with other members of the engineering team. Similarly, the US Navy must have tools to evaluate human versus system function allocation tradeoffs during the early phases of ship acquisition, when changes are easier and less costly to implement. Two efforts, the Ship Manpower Analysis and Requirements Tools (SMART) and the Systems Engineering Analysis Integration Tool (SEAIT), are being conducted to assist navy manpower evaluators, ship designers and government program managers in meeting the challenge of optimally manned ships. Both efforts use modeling and simulation of human performance and skill data to determine the optimum crew mix. Outputs from SMART and SEAIT are being designed for transition to the Human Centered Design Environment (HCDE), a collaborative engineering environment that integrates human centered and systems engineering processes and tools into a common data repository.
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