Experiences in Aiding Airborne Decision-Making

This paper describes research aimed at structuring decision augmentation system design by defining, developing, and applying appropriate design techniques for a variety of airborne platforms. The goal of this research is to improve combined man/machine system performance by enhancing the integration of information in the total avionics system. Results from several studies are summarized and related to the systematic design/evaluation approach being advocated. The approach described includes: (1) identifying key decision situations and matching them to available decision augmentation techniques; (2) extracting, organizing, and summarizing experienced operator opinion about problems in unaided information processing tasks; (3) estimating effectiveness of candidate augmentation algorithms through the use of operator models; and (4) estimating the cost of candidate augmentation systems. The methods are discussed using examples from airborne anti-submarine-warfare.