Cognitive performance and communications in a network-centric battle laboratory.

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Military Technology
• Human Performance Measurement

Background:

• Technological advancements are enabling network-centric battlefields.
• These advancements also facilitate studying warfighter performance in these environments.
• Battle laboratories offer capabilities for capturing and analyzing operational performance metrics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce methodologies for studying warfighter performance in network-centric environments.
• To present examples of performance metric capture and analysis within a battle laboratory.
• To highlight innovative approaches for evaluating cognitive performance and team dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the Air Maneuver Battle Laboratory environment, including its command and control, synthetic battle, and communication structures.
• Describing a generalized methodology for evaluating personnel performance using cognitive taxonomies and synthetic tests.
• Introducing team data collection systems for measuring process and outcome metrics in console operations.

Main Results:

• The Air Maneuver Battle Laboratory provides a framework for capturing operational performance metrics.
• A generalized methodology allows for the evaluation of cognitive skills critical to operational tasks.
• Effective measurement of team performance in realistic operations requires attention to process and outcome measures.

Conclusions:

• Innovative measurement methodologies can enhance the study of warfighter cognitive performance.
• New approaches are crucial for understanding human performance in future network-centric warfare.
• Successful team performance assessment relies on robust data collection and analysis techniques.