The Influence of Team Size and Communication Modality on Team Effectiveness with Unmanned Systems

Abstract

This study examines the effects of team size (2 versus 3 operators) and communication modality (audio versus text) on team performance. Performance and workload measures from 112 undergraduate students from the University of Central Florida were used in this analysis. Results indicated that performance was optimal for teams of three operators using audio systems for distributed communication. Results with the NASA TLX showed patterns where workload was lower in the audio condition. Results with the Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ) showed a reversed trend with a higher score in the audio condition, which was attributed to increases in items associated with audio processing.