<p>To incorporate new technical advances into military domain and make those processes more <i>efficient</i> in accuracy, time and cost, a new concept of Network Centric Warfare has been introduced in the US military forces. In Sweden a similar concept has been studied under the name Network Based Defence (NBD). Here we present one of the methodologies, called tactical plan recognition that is aimed to support NBD in future.</p><p>Advances in sensor technology and modelling produce large sets of data for decision makers. To achieve <i>decision superiority</i>, decision makers have to act agile with proper, adequate and relevant information (data aggregates) available. Information fusion is a process aimed to support decision makers’ situation awareness. This involves a process of combining data and information from disparate sources with <i>prior</i> information or knowledge to obtain an improved state estimate about an agent or phenomena. <i>Plan recognition</i> is the term given to the process of inferring an agent’s intentions from a set of actions and is intended to support decision making.</p><p>The aim of this work has been to introduce a methodology where prior (empirical) knowledge (e.g. behaviour, environment and organization) is represented and combined with sensor data to recognize plans/behaviours of an agent or group of agents. We call this methodology <i>multi-agent plan recognition</i>. It includes knowledge representation as well as imprecise and statistical inference issues.</p><p>Successful plan recognition in large scale systems is heavily dependent on the data that is supplied. Therefore we introduce a <i>bridge</i> between the plan recognition and sensor management where results of our plan recognition are reused to the control of, give <i>focus of attention</i> to, the sensors that are supposed to acquire most important/<i>relevant</i> information.</p><p>Here we combine different theoretical methods (Bayesian Networks, Unified Modeling Language and Plan Recognition) and apply them for tactical military situations for ground forces. The results achieved from several proof-ofconcept models show that it is possible to model and recognize behaviour of tank units.</p>

Investigations into past accidents at nuclear power generating facilities such as that of Three Mile Island have identified human factors as one of the foremost critical aspects in plant safety. Errors resulting from limitations in human information processing are of particular concern for human-machine interfaces (HMI) in plant control rooms. This project examines the application of Ecological Interface Design (EID) in HMI information displays and the effects on operator situation awareness (SA) for turbine secondary systems based on the Swedish Forsmark 3 boiling-water reactor nuclear power plant. A work domain analysis was performed on the turbine secondary systems yielding part-whole decomposition and abstraction hierarchy models. Information display requirements were subsequently extracted from the models. The resulting EID information displays were implemented in a full-scope simulator and evaluated with six licensed operating crews from the Forsmark 3 plant. Three measures were used to examine SA: self-rated bias, Halden Open Probe Elicitation (HOPE), and Situation Awareness Control Room Inventory (SACRI). The data analysis revealed that operators achieved moderate to good SA; operators unfamiliar with EID information displays were able to develop and maintain comparable levels of SA to operators using traditional forms of single sensor-single indicator (SS-SI) information displays. With sufficient training and experience, operator SA is expected to benefit from the knowledge-based visual elements in the EID information displays. This project was researched in conjunction with the Cognitive Engineering Laboratory at the University of Toronto and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Halden, Norway.

Interruptions in time-critical, dynamic, and collaborative environments, such as air traffic control (ATC), can provide valuable, task-relevant information. However, they also negatively impact task performance by distracting the operator from on-going tasks and consuming attention resources. This thesis develops and assesses a tool to assist radar air traffic controllers in managing interruptions. Field observations and interviews with air traffic controllers were utilized to develop an understanding of how interruptions occur in real ATC environments, and to identify where opportunities exist to use technology to support the interruption management process. It was identified that operators in these environments could better manage the effects of interruptions if there were indications to one operator of the availability of a collaborator and the urgency of an interruption from a collaborator. Present communication systems do not facilitate the awareness of these functionalities. An initial prototype for providing these functionalities in operational ATC displays was designed. Feedback on the prototypes was solicited through Participatory Design (PD) sessions with air traffic controllers. Based on the refinement of these prototypes, the Working Awareness Interruption Tool (WAIT) was developed to support more efficient and appropriate interruption timing in the context of complex, real-time, distributed, human operator interactions. Variations of the tool demonstrated several ways of showing the availability of the controller to be interrupted (either through manual settings or automatic detection) as well as incorporating a means of conveying the urgency level of the interruption. In order to examine the utility of the tool and to assess the importance and validity of its features, an experiment was conducted in a laboratory-based setting. The results of the experiment show the potential of this tool in an environment representative of air traffic control tasks and communication. Although the sample size was limited, the WAIT facilitated improved performance on both objective measures and self-reported measures, and reduced the distraction effects of interruptions from other operators. These improvements occurred without affecting perceptions of the effectiveness of communications. Questionnaire and interview results showed that participants appear to prefer an automated setting of availability to be shown to other collaborators. Identifying two examples of key features supporting interruption management (communicating availability and urgency) in air traffic control is one of the key contributions of this work. The work also makes a contribution by demonstrating that providing a tool incorporating these features can improve performance in an environment representative of ATC, albeit with naïve participants. Finally, the research makes a contribution by presenting the challenges associated with evaluating interruption management tools that require collaboration between operators in a system.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the theoretical and practical issues associated with the design, execution and analysis of an empirical evaluation of novel process control displays in a collaborative control room environment. An important feature of the thesis is how practical constraints associated with limited access to industry controllers were handled and how convergent lines of evidence were used to achieve the evaluation. As a novel research domain, hydropower systems (HPS) present many design challenges, because controllers must coordinate multiple domains across different time frames. If controllers are to maintain effective situation awareness and if they are to exercise effective control, the displays must integrate controllers’ problem solving across water, generation, market, and transmission concerns and across time frames. However, these needs are ignored in the current displays in a hydropower control room. The two new ecologically-inspired displays, called “Functional Displays”, evaluated in this thesis, are intended to overcome the above shortcomings. The evaluation was done with industry hydropower controllers and coordinators on a medium fidelity simulator which represented the working environment of a large hydropower control room. The core issue of this thesis is how the evaluation was conceptualized, operationalized and analysed given practical constraints arising from limited access to industry controllers, limited capacity of the simulator, and the complexity of the hydropower domain. Of key concern was the design of test scenarios, selection of measures of performance, and data analysis in the face of these constraints. The rationale of the scenario design was to combine representative contingencies within and outside the hydropower scheme, emergent storage problems and different market contexts so that controllers or coordinators would be required to act in different domains. Only by placing controllers in such challenging and time pressured situations could we maximize our chances of seeing the expected benefits of the new display, given the limited length of the experiment. Multiple measures were proposed to capture the quality of in-the-loop coupling between human controllers and the system under various disturbances. The measures of performance include: (1) control quality, which investigates how the new displays tame “temporal complexity” by helping the control team construct a more effective pattern of activities to handle contingencies; and (2) control strategy, which exposes how the new display support the coordination between storage, generation and market to meet the strategic or tangible objectives. The measures of cognition and affect include: (1) situation awareness (SA), which represents controllers’ or coordinators’ degree of cognitive coupling with different time frames and different levels of the hydropower scheme and (2) controllers’ or coordinators’ trust in the supporting displays, and their self-confidence in their own ability to control the hydropower scheme. Through the effort of triangulating the different measures, balancing the elements in designing scenarios, and extracting and integrating raw data from the study, convergent lines of evidence were achieved for evaluation. It was found that the new Functional Displays led the participant teams to a better pattern of work which was reflected in their situation awareness, their discretionary control activity, and the outcome of their control with respect to system productivity and stability. However, limitations of these findings because of the constraints of the experiment are discussed. This research contributes to many theoretical and practical issues in Human-System Interface (HSI). For example, it outlines how some of the principles of ecological interface design (EID) can be used and it highlights the value of using time as a basis for distinguishing interfaces. Moreover, this research provides fruitful insights into the selection and development of measures to assess human control in real world complex work environments. Because a key issue of this thesis is how practical constraints were handled; pragmatic approaches for measuring SA and control were developed. Because industry often performs evaluations under similar intensive constraints, the approaches and solutions developed in this thesis for evaluating novel interfaces could be easily adapted to various industrial settings.

Situation Awareness (SA) is the aviation term for the construct describing how actors extract meaning and make sense of their dynamically changing environment. Within the aviation domain, it is broadly acknowledged that SA plays a crucial role for pilots in coping with hazardous situations and its loss is cited as a significant factor in aircraft accidents and incidents. A broad range of psychologically based theories has been applied to conceptualise SA. The aim of this research thesis is to develop an alternative, sociologically based approach, largely drawn from Erving Goffman??s (1974) Frame Analysis, and assess whether it can be used to effectively describe, analyse and discuss SA. An open observation method was used to collect data in the flight deck during ten commercial international flight sectors conducted in an advanced wide-body aircraft. A running narrative of flight activity and associated context was recorded from a purposeful sample of flights operated by consenting flight crews. Data was managed in the NVIVO?? qualitative software analysis program. Strips of activity associated with the establishment or maintenance of SA were identified and examined in accordance with key concepts derived from frame analysis. The results show that key concepts drawn from Goffman??s (1974) frame analysis are able to be applied to the coding and discussion of data. Several emergent themes describe distinct SA behaviours relating to frame establishment and maintenance. These behaviours include; frame confirming, questioning, seeking, setting, proposing, clearing, accepting, reviewing and anticipating. Some unique modifications are made to Goffman??s underlying concepts in order to address specific contextual issues emergent in flight deck operations. SA is supported as a meaningful construct in the aviation domain. This thesis establishes that Goffman??s (1974) general theory of frame analysis supports the major underlying concepts of the specific SA construct. Additionally, a method derived from frame analysis is used to examine and analyse the observed intersubjective SA processes. This analysis also develops several unique perspectives concerning flight crew task performance that have wide ranging implications in procedural design, training and airspace integration. Lastly, practitioner based notions of SA are shown to be equivalent to that of ??frame.??

Situation Awareness (SA) is the aviation term for the construct describing how actors extract meaning and make sense of their dynamically changing environment. Within the aviation domain, it is broadly acknowledged that SA plays a crucial role for pilots in coping with hazardous situations and its loss is cited as a significant factor in aircraft accidents and incidents. A broad range of psychologically based theories has been applied to conceptualise SA. The aim of this research thesis is to develop an alternative, sociologically based approach, largely drawn from Erving Goffman??s (1974) Frame Analysis, and assess whether it can be used to effectively describe, analyse and discuss SA. An open observation method was used to collect data in the flight deck during ten commercial international flight sectors conducted in an advanced wide-body aircraft. A running narrative of flight activity and associated context was recorded from a purposeful sample of flights operated by consenting flight crews. Data was managed in the NVIVO?? qualitative software analysis program. Strips of activity associated with the establishment or maintenance of SA were identified and examined in accordance with key concepts derived from frame analysis. The results show that key concepts drawn from Goffman??s (1974) frame analysis are able to be applied to the coding and discussion of data. Several emergent themes describe distinct SA behaviours relating to frame establishment and maintenance. These behaviours include; frame confirming, questioning, seeking, setting, proposing, clearing, accepting, reviewing and anticipating. Some unique modifications are made to Goffman??s underlying concepts in order to address specific contextual issues emergent in flight deck operations. SA is supported as a meaningful construct in the aviation domain. This thesis establishes that Goffman??s (1974) general theory of frame analysis supports the major underlying concepts of the specific SA construct. Additionally, a method derived from frame analysis is used to examine and analyse the observed intersubjective SA processes. This analysis also develops several unique perspectives concerning flight crew task performance that have wide ranging implications in procedural design, training and airspace integration. Lastly, practitioner based notions of SA are shown to be equivalent to that of ??frame.??

<p>From the theories of Ackoff about system theory and how the management of an organization should perform, the concept of situation awareness is discussed. A short history of the situation awareness concept is given in the light of aviation and human cognition. Motives are given why it is of interest to explore the concept of SA. The Russian Theory of Activity (Activity Theory) is presented with the focus on the orientational activity to give the background for a comparison against the adaptive-learning management system as presented by Ackoff. As result a definition of SA is presented, the result of the comparison of theories is presented, discussed and summarized in a conceptual design and future research is presented.</p>

<p>The maritime industry is experiencing one of its longest and fastest periods of growth. Hence, the global maritime surveillance capacity is in a great need of growth as well. The detection of vessel activity is an important objective of the civil security domain. Detecting vessel activity may become problematic if audit data is uncertain. This thesis aims to investigate if Bayesian networks acquired from expert knowledge can detect activities with a signature-based detection approach. For this, a maritime pilot-boat scenario has been identified with a domain expert. Each of the scenario’s activities has been divided up into signatures where each signature relates to a specific Bayesian network information node. The signatures were implemented to find evidences for the Bayesian network information nodes. AIS-data with real world observations have been used for testing, which have shown that it is possible to detect the maritime pilot-boat scenario based on the taken approach.</p>

<p>System integration, interoperability, just in time delivery, window of opportunity, and dust-to-dust optimization are all keywords of our computerized future. Survivability is an important concept that together with dependability and quality of service are key issues in the systems of the future, i.e. infrastructural systems, business applications, and everyday desktop applications. The importance of dependable systems and the widely spread usage of dependable system together with the complexity of those systems makes middleware and frameworks for survivability imperative to the system builder of the future. This thesis presents a simulation approach to investigate the effect on data survival when the defending system uses knowledge of the current situation to protect the data. The results show the importance of situation awareness to avoid wasting recourses. A number of characteristics of the situational information provided and how this information may be used to optimize the system.</p>

Att utveckla och bibehålla situation awareness (SA) är en av de mest kritiska utmaningar i en stab i dagens konflikter. Det får avgörande betydelse för utgången av en konflikt. Om SA hanteras eller förstås felaktigt kan det leda till ökat mänskligt lidande i konfliktområden och förluster av människoliv. Det ökande internationella samarbetet gör att planeringsofficeren förutsätts kunna hantera flera olika processer. Syftet med uppsatsen var att jämföra och belysa skillnader hur SA skapas inom olika planeringsprocesser, samt vad försvårar utväxlingen av SA mellan processerna. Detta återspeglas i form av likheter och skillnader mellan planeringsmodellerna SPL, MCPP och COPD. Resultatet visar att det fanns stor likhet mellan processerna men det fanns också avgörande skillnader. I SA nivå 1 fanns en diskrepans mellan begreppen Centre of Gravity, caveats och gender. I SA nivå 2 skiljer bearbetningsprocesserna mellan planeringsmodellerna. I SA nivå 3 fanns den största och mest avgörande skillnaden där det kan konstateras att planeringsprocesserna inte utgår från samma byggstenar när det gäller att bygga planen. Medvetenhet och insikt för de olika planeringsprocessernas särart minskar risken för missförstånd.