Human Performance Modeling of Reduced Manning Concepts for Navy Ships

Abstract

WinCrew is a human performance assessment tool developed by the Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate that implements the Wickens' Theory of Multiple Resources. WinCrew supports the hierarchical decomposition of missions into functions and tasks. As a demonstration of the capability of WinCrew, simulation models of the activities performed by bridge personnel on a Navy Guided Missile Destroyer DDG51 were developed. The scenarios were chosen to illustrate the potential of task network based human performance modeling to address reduced manning issues for naval ship operations. In order to fully exercise the functionality of WinCrew, four bridge models were developed. One scenario was modeled for four different manning, automation, and task allocation configurations. The scenario modeled was entry into San Diego Harbor. The major events for the bridge team were: bearing fixes, gyro error checks, turns, precision anchoring, and obstacle avoidance. Results of the effort demonstrated the utility of workload modeling for assessing human system integration alternatives for shipboard manning.