Team situation awareness accuracy measurement technique for simulated air combat - Curvilinear relationship between awareness and performance

Heikki Mansikka; Kai Virtanen; Ville Uggeldahl; Don Harris

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103473

Team situation awareness accuracy measurement technique for simulated air combat - Curvilinear relationship between awareness and performance

Appl Ergon. 2021 Oct:96:103473. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103473. Epub 2021 Jun 2.

Authors

Heikki Mansikka¹, Kai Virtanen², Ville Uggeldahl³, Don Harris⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Helsinki, Finland; Insta DefSec, Tampere, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Finland; Department of Military Technology, Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Finland. Electronic address: heikki.mansikka@aalto.fi.
² Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Military Technology, Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Finland.
³ Department of Military Technology, Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, P.O. Box 11100, FIN 00076, Aalto, Finland.
⁴ Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom.

PMID: 34089914
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103473

Abstract

A new technique for the assessment of Team Situation Awareness (TSA) accuracy based upon post task Critical Decision Method structured interviews was developed and tested using 39 combat-ready F/A-18 pilots. Pilots undertook a number of simulated air combat scenarios, flying in flights of four aircraft against a formation of enemy aircraft. Results showed a strong curvilinear relationship where high TSA accuracy resulted in higher performance in some areas of air combat, measured with friendly losses and kills. There were diminishing returns in performance as TSA accuracy increased. This may explain why previous studies on air combat have found relatively weak relationships between situation awareness and performance where the relationship has been assumed to be linear.

Keywords: Critical decision method; Performance; Team situation awareness.

MeSH terms

Aircraft*
Awareness*
Humans