Establishing Human Factors Criteria for Space Control Systems

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a human factors methodology and its application to the operational test and evaluation of space control systems. The method uses a correlational approach to link human factors measures to the mission effectiveness of space control systems. Experiment 1 describes an initial wide-spectrum attempt to identify human factors predictors of system performance. Based on the results of Experiment 1. the human factors measures and analysis method were refined and applied in the test of an operational satellite control system in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 applied the same methodology to a different satellite control system in order to determine the generalizability of the approach. The methodology worked with more than one system and was robust with respect to changes in personnel and location. The methodology was sensitive to changes in software, hardware, and procedures, and it yielded data that correctly reflected those changes.