EFFECTIVENESS

THE RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE CRITICAL YET FUNDAMENTAL CONTROL CENTER FUNCTIONS AT THE MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE. THESE INTERFACES ARE EXAMINED AT A SELECTED SITE WITH RESPECT TO THE ALLOCATIONS OF TASKS TO MAN VERSUS COMPUTER USING A MAN MACHINE INTERFACE TEST BED FACILITY. THE RESEARCH IS PERTINENT TO BOTH NEW CONTROLS USING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND METHODOLOGIES AS WELL AS TO MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING CONTROL CENTERS IN ORDER TO IMPROVE SYSTEM EFFICIENCY AND OPERATOR EFFECTIVENESS. THE RESEARCH EXPLORES ADVANCES IN MAN MACHINE DIALOG LANGUAGES AND THE CONCEPT OF RAPID PROTOTYPING FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF THE TEST BED FACILITY. THE RESEARCH ALSO EXPLORES SOME ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY, I.E., ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH THE CONCEPT OF AUTOMATING OR MIMICKING SOME OPERATOR LOGIC PROCESSES IN CONTROL CENTER ENVIRONMENTS. THE CONTINUITY THREAD THROUGHOUT THE RESEARCH IS THE DESIRE TO ARRIVE AT THE CORRECT BALANCE BETWEEN THE ALLOCATION OF TASKS TO THE MAN VERSUS THE COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. THE CORRECT PLACE FOR THIS TO OCCUR IN THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROCESS IS IN THE "ALLOCATED BASELINE". THE ANTICIPATED RESEARCH BENEFITS ARE DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO NASA, DOD, AND INDUSTRIAL/INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BUILDING OR MODIFYING CONTROL CENTERS FOR USE IN THE 1990'S.