Human Factors Engineering Methodologies in Submarine Combat Systems Concept of Operations Experiments

Abstract

Concept of Operations Experiments (COOPEXs) are conducted at the Naval Underwater Systems Center to evaluate submarine combat system operability through structured walkthroughs of submarine missions in a full-scale replica of the combat system environment. Data were collected from one COOPEX for the purpose of piloting human factors engineering methodologies. Partial results based on a different COOPEX scenario are reported and compared. The data reduction and analysis procedures of digraph analysis, Q-analysis, multidimensional scaling and crew density were applied to assess combat system information flow and configuration effectiveness. Results revealed the potential for significantly enhancing submarine combat system performance when applied to larger, more complex data sets. Plans for subsequent research are discussed.