Observing resilient performance in space-based teaming mission using digital technologies

Area of Science:

• Space exploration and human-computer interaction.
• Team dynamics and resilience in complex systems.
• Application of digital technologies in space missions.

Background:

• Space-based teaming involves coordinating human operators and digital technologies (DTs) over vast distances.
• Existing communication networks and emerging AI/robotic teammates present coordination challenges.
• Methods to observe resilience across multiple coordination layers in DT-enabled space missions are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simulate high-stakes space mission scenarios to evaluate team resilience.
• To measure constructs like relaxation time, information entropy, and average mutual information (AMI) to assess team responses to perturbations.
• To analyze dynamic resilience curves across system layers before, during, and after perturbations.

Main Methods:

• Simulated two scenarios: nominal communications and deliberate perturbations.
• Eight research team members participated in the simulations.
• Measured communication flow, vehicle controls, and position, utilizing layered dynamics to assess resilience curves (enaction, adaptation, recovery).

Main Results:

• Resilient teams exhibited shorter relaxation times and more effective adaptation to perturbations.
• Distinct phases of enaction, adaptation, and recovery were observed in resilient teams.
• Average Mutual Information (AMI) proved more sensitive in measuring team influence and resilience than communication frequency.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully differentiated resilient teams based on dynamic resilience metrics.
• The simulation environment facilitates continuous observation of adaptations.
• Operationism offers an innovative approach to studying resilience in space-based teaming.