CoHOST- Computer Simulation Models to Investigate Human Performance Task and Workload Conditions in a U.S. Army Heavy Maneuver Battalion Tactical Operations Center

Abstract

A multi-year effort was conducted to investigate the impact on human cognitive and physical performance capabilities, which the introduction of a new Army command and control vehicle with modernized digital communications systems would have. This was a joint effort by the Human Research and Engineering Directorate of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in partnership with the Directorate of Force Developments at the U.S. Armor Center and School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the U.S. Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command at Alexandria, Virginia. Literature searches and background investigations were conducted, and a model architecture based on a taxonomy of human performance was developed. A computer simulation design and methodology was implemented with these taxonomic-based descriptors of human performance in the military command and control domain, using a commercially available simulation programming language. A series of computer models called Computer modeling of Human Operator System Tasks (CoHOST) was written and results were developed that suggest that automation alone does not necessarily improve human performance.