Date: Jan 15, 2008 Source: ARMY SBIR Success Stories (
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Successful Soldier performance depends on situational awareness and understanding. To address this issue, an Army Technology Objective (ATO) entitled Situational Understanding as an Enabler for Unit of Action Maneuver Team Soldiers (SU) was developed. The goal of the SU ATO is to enhance Soldier situational understanding by determining the optimum modality for displaying critical information to the Soldier.
To accomplish this goal, a simulation platform was needed; after reviewing existing simulation platforms, it was determined that the M-Body Agent Enabled Decision Group Environment (M-Body AEDGE) system developed by 21st Century Systems, Inc. provided the required capability.
The M-Body AEDGE simulation platform derived from the Scoot and Shoot Assistant (SASA), an Army SBIR Phase II effort. SASA, originally developed as a tactical decision aid based on the AEDGE open architecture intelligent agent framework, was modified to fit program requirements and to represent the functionality that was necessary to simulate platoon leading operations.
Additionally, the M-Body AEDGE application provides three unique capabilities to the Soldier. First, it generates specific audio, visual, and tactile cues for attention management, as well as an option for either unimodal or multimodal presentation. Next, it provides a data collection capability that considers the command and control decision-making aspects for Platoon Leaders, allowing capture of extensive simulation events and human interactions. Lastly, it provides the capability to modify mission scenarios based on the situation.
Future U.S Infantry capabilities, coupled with network-centric warfare, will drive large advancements in information distribution and display, and will provide a combat advantage. Utilizing other human senses such as audition and touch to convey information may help Soldiers manage information, thereby enhancing their performance on the battlefield.
Phase III Impacts:
The overall results of these studies suggest that both unimodal and multimodal alerts may be effective information management tools for platoon leaders, leading to a reduction in their mental workload and improvement in overall performance. More specifically, decision cycle time (measured as response time) was reduced by as much as 63% when multimodal alerts were presented.
To date, 21st Century Systems, Inc. has received over $87K in PH III funding from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) for software in support of ARL research efforts.
