We claim that a clear approach to measuring situations is an essential ingredient in any empirical attack on the problem of ‘awareness’

Situation awareness is applied to the design of nuclear reactor control panels, air traffic control interfaces, remote weapons control units and similar critical systems. Substantial engineering is also put into those control units to ensure that the interface resonates effectively with the troops who will be controling the armed robots. This includes the repurposing of existing consumer technology – already proved successful under the relentless selection pressure of the market – for tactical ends. The Microsoft X-box controller has proved especially useful.

we believe that internal human processing constraints will rarely be a limiting factor on work

The military applications of this research are obvious. The Warfighter Interface Division of the Human Effectiveness Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Airforce Base USA spends all its time mitigating the ambiguities of war for the men and women involved.

We learn about ourselves through doing the most peculiar things.