SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

Spatial Disorientation (SD) and Loss of Situational Awareness (LSA) are serious threats to aerospace safety. These related concepts are caused by problems with attention and workload. The major contribution to the protection against LSA and SD must come from improved cockpit design. A good cognitive coupling between machine and human must be established to defy the problem. This paper presents a brief view on human cognitive performance and discusses the visual and the auditory modalities. Multi-modal cockpit interfaces seem to be the best tool to attain the goal of enhancing safety in aerospace by keeping the pilots well informed.

Human Machine Interface (HMI) concepts for autonomous vehicles have thus far been oriented towards the needs of the vehicle operator. In this work, an autonomous vehicle HMI utilizing LED lights, a display, and audio was created to communicate to others outside the vehicle. In the US, turn-taking at four-way stop sign intersections is typically negotiated via gesture or eye contact. In autonomous vehicles, there may not be an operator involved in the driving task to communicate this information. An HMI concept for this use case was built into a Wizard of Oz autonomous vehicle. Participants (N=64) interacted with the vehicle at an intersection as both a driver and as a pedestrian, after which they discussed their experiences in focus groups. HMI elements that communicate vehicle status or intentions concretely were better received than abstract indicators. Suggestions for design improvement and general implications for external HMI for autonomous vehicles are discussed.

Image-guided military operations embed soldiers into a complex system of image production, transmission and perception, which on the one hand separate their bodies from the battlefield, but on the other hand mediate between them. Especially in remotely controlled operations of so-called unmanned aerial systems (UAS) navigation and intervention require the synchronization between human actors and technical sensors in real-time, as the knowledge of a situation, the so-called situational awareness, relies almost exclusively on the visualization of sensor data. This human-machine entanglement corresponds to a new operative modality of images which differs from previous forms of real-time imaging such as live broadcasting, as it is based on a feedback-loop that turns the observer into an actor. Images are not simply analyzed and interpreted but become agents in a socio-technological assemblage. The paper will draw upon this functional shift of images from a medium of visualization towards a medium that guides operative processes. Based on the analysis of vision, architecture and navigation in remote warfare it will discuss how real-time video technology and the mobilization of sensor and transmission technology produce a type of  intervention, in which action and perception is increasingly organized and determined by machines.

BACKGROUND:
Surgical errors result from faulty decision-making, misperceptions and the application of suboptimal problem-solving strategies, just as often as they result from technical failure. To date, surgical training curricula have focused mainly on the acquisition of technical skills. The aim of this review was to assess the validity of methods for improving situational awareness in the surgical theatre.
METHODS:
A search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and PsycINFO using predefined inclusion criteria, up to June 2014. All study types were considered eligible. The primary endpoint was validity for improving situational awareness in the surgical theatre at individual or team level.
RESULTS:
Nine articles were considered eligible. These evaluated surgical team crisis training in simulated environments for minimally invasive surgery (4) and open surgery (3), and training courses focused at training non-technical skills (2). Two studies showed that simulation-based surgical team crisis training has construct validity for assessing situational awareness in surgical trainees in minimally invasive surgery. None of the studies showed effectiveness of surgical crisis training on situational awareness in open surgery, whereas one showed face validity of a 2-day non-technical skills training course.
CONCLUSION:
To improve safety in the operating theatre, more attention to situational awareness is needed in surgical training. Few structured curricula have been developed and validation research remains limited. Strategies to improve situational awareness can be adopted from other industries.

The aim of the report is to map the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) institutional and policy landscape in order to achieve an understanding of the state of the art concerning situational awareness, information exchange and operational control within EU CSDP civilian missions. In doing so, the project seeks to describe the political and institutional background in which the possible establishment of a future Situational Awareness, Information Exchange and Operational Control Platform (OCP) will take place.

Could it be that in its current self-conception, project management is much more similar to ancient alchemy than to a modern science or an art? Alchemists were driven by the desire to find the philosopher's stone that could turn lead and other cheap metals into gold. They searched for panaceas, cures for all diseases, and while they developed various laboratory methods, some of them still in use today, their activities were mostly performed against a background of mysticism and magic. There were several steps that took practitioners and scientists from old alchemists' approaches to those of modern chemists. A central one was the publication of the periodic table (Mendelejew, 1869), which allowed chemists to classify and typify chemical elements and improve the understanding of chemistry through the identification of an inner order in the diversity of elements. A similar step was achieved in biology with the development of the Linnaean taxonomy, which allowed scientists to classify species and understand their relationships but also their differences. Typologies and with them classifications allow to better manage diversity.

Aviation Electronic (Avionics) has driven much of the operation in aircraft and become the main source to provide information for pilot. From the 3 flight crew operation with sophisticated, gauge-based flight deck of the past, to the dual pilot operation with the modern glass cockpit reflected the rapid advancement in cockpit design also the implementation of human factor in Civil Aviation. The continuous improvement of aviation technology resulting the safest, reliable and efficient transportation method in the world. In parallel to continuous improvement achieved in Aeronautics, there has been increasing understanding the risk of Human Error, and how is can best be reduced a low as practicable by introducing new technology in order to increasing crew Situational Awareness.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) faces two significant organizational challenges in the 21st century: (1) transformation of the current NAS into the Next Generation Air Transportation System (“NextGen”); and (2) recruitment, selection, and training the next generation of air traffic control specialists (ATCSs or air traffic controllers). What aptitudes should be assessed in the selection of future air traffic controllers? This report, the first of three, focuses on the aptitudes required in the air traffic control tower cab. First, the aptitude profile currently required at the time of hire into the ATCS occupation is described based on Nickels, Bobko, Blair, Sands, & Tartak (1995). Second, mid-term (2018) changes in the tower cab are described. Change drivers include increased traffic and the introduction of five decision support tools (DSTs): 1) Airport Configuration; 2) Departure Routing; 3) Runway Assignment; 4) Scheduling and Sequencing; and 5) Taxi Routing (with Confo...

The workplace influences the safety, health, and productivity of workers at multiple levels. To protect and promote total worker health, smart hardware, and software tools have emerged for the identification, elimination, substitution, and control of occupational hazards. Wearable devices enable constant monitoring of individual workers and the environment, whereas connected worker solutions provide contextual information and decision support. Here, the recent trends in commercial workplace technologies to monitor and manage occupational risks, injuries, accidents, and diseases are reviewed. Workplace safety wearables for safe lifting, ergonomics, hazard identification, sleep monitoring, fatigue management, and heat and cold stress are discussed. Examples of workplace productivity wearables for asset tracking, augmented reality, gesture and motion control, brain wave sensing, and work stress management are given. Workplace health wearables designed for work-related musculoskeletal disorders, functional movement disorders, respiratory hazards, cardiovascular health, outdoor sun exposure, and continuous glucose monitoring are shown. Connected worker platforms are discussed with information about the architecture, system modules, intelligent operations, and industry applications. Predictive analytics provide contextual information about occupational safety risks, resource allocation, equipment failure, and predictive maintenance. Altogether, these examples highlight the ground-level benefits of real-time visibility about frontline workers, work environment, distributed assets, workforce efficiency, and safety compliance.

The prime role of head-up displays (HUDs) is to provide primary flight, navigation, aircraft and guidance information to the pilot in his forward field of view on see-through glasses with optical filter properties known as beam combiners (BC) which facilitates the pilot in excellent control of an aircraft activities through the concurrent scan of instrument data as well as the outside scene. Even though the HUDs are known to improve the flight performance, there are perceptual and cognitive issues associated with its use. This paper puts forward the results of an experimental study carried on human aspects in form of attention capture and tunneling due to HUD use under the environmental conditions where ambient brightness is changing and the HUD display screen presents a non-uniform brightness across the display screen. The pilots tend to have division of near and far domain attentional resources resulting due to the attention or cognitive capture as established in this study and also established in studies carried worldwide. HUDs may cause decrease in pilot’s situation awareness (SA) in tasks that require constant monitoring of information in the environment which may demand split second decisions at times. It has been established through the study carried out in this work that there is a distinct relation of HUD display brightness, contrast ratio (CR) and the non-uniformity in HUD display brightness with the attention capture and tunneling. The study conducted based on participant’s response to varying contrast ratios on HUD resulting due to the non-uniform brightness of HUD display under the simulated conditions shows that the non-uniformity in the HUD display brightness causes the tunneling effect as evident from the study results which clearly suggests that the viewer is forced to pay his attention more either on the HUD events which is the flight symbology, or the outside view. The pilot is not able to maintain the balance between the two events which are equally important. He or she is presented with differential brightness, variation of which can be significant to the extent that it distracts the pilot significantly such that his performance in observing HUD and the outside events simultaneously is affected.

Many firefighters are confronted with decision-making under extreme time pressure in harsh conditions. Earlier research on decision-making indicates that prior experience and training help them to assess the dynamic risks in a split second while making a professional judgement under extreme stress. However, the question could be raised how firefighters make the right decisions under the same extreme conditions without the ability to rely on prior experience-driven or thought responses.
This research paper examines the decision-making process of a Belgian firefighter crew before and during a building collapse. The results indicate that contrary to existing views on decision-making in fast-burning crisis situations, multiple subsequent processes are at play. Firefighters act on multiple sequences, and in each of these a different form of decision-making is in use. The rationale for switching between particular decision-making processes is anchored to the type of interaction, the firefighter’s perception and conception of the situation, and the type of knowledge used to tackle the problem. Based on these findings, recommendations for practical implementations, such as training and development, and directions for further research in the domain of decision-making in fast-burning crisis situations are offered.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Patient Safety Program Office of the TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) provides training and support for the health-care facilities operated by military services to help strengthen their use of effective teamwork practices. In 2002, TMA funded a study aimed to assess the effects of teamwork training for labor and delivery teams on patient safety and other outcomes for mothers and newborns (Nielsen et al., 2007). The study presented in this report is a successor to the 2002 study, with the goal of addressing a number of the issues raised from the earlier study's findings. Using a case-study design, the study has focused on learning from the experiences of five labor and delivery units in implementing teamwork practices for the staff working in their units. Through a combination of process and outcome assessments, using site visits, interviews, staff surveys, and analysis of patient outcomes, the study sought to understand what is required for ...

Genealogies of governance have a significant contribution to make to studies of the European Union (EU). Genealogies denaturalize relations of rule by revealing the overlooked or hidden history of the practices and knowledges that underpin the exercise of political power. They also sensitize us to little shifts in practices that are often overlooked by general theories of governance. This argument is developed through a critical analysis of EUROSUR, a project the EU has recently launched to enhance and better integrate border surveillance capabilities at EU external frontiers. The paper has three aims. First, to enhance the intelligibility of EUROSUR through a historical focus on one if its key concepts, situational awareness. Second, to explore the relationship between this concept, its material infrastructure, and the emergence of a new time–space that I call the situation. This time–space materializes in contexts where information, infrastructure, and reaction capabilities combine in such a way that social events and emergencies can be monitored and acted upon in near real time: a state of affairs I call 'live governance'. Finally, the paper asks what is at stake when we write genealogies of very contemporary, fluid regimes of power. It concludes that EUROSUR is better analysed as a dynamic and experimental assemblage of elements rather than the kind of relatively stable and enduring apparatus that interested Foucault. Describing it as an assemblage is intended to counterbalance the tendency, evident in some areas of security studies, to overestimate the solidity of new governance arrangements.

: This study examines the validity of the central NCW hypothesis that a robustly networked force improves information sharing; collaboration; quality of information; and shared situational awareness resulting in dramatically increased mission effectiveness. This study documents the impact of networked information on the application of combat power, battlespace synchronization, decision-makers and staffs, lethality and survivability, force agility, and operational tempo.

This paper offers a foundation for an assessment framework involving C4ISR processes in FORCEnet. It collects and expands upon work done by a number of organizations engaged in efforts to structure a process that links traditional and evolved C4ISR attributes, measures, and metrics to network centric outcomes including work being done in support of the Office of Force Transformation and the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks, and Information Integration (ASD (NI2)). Using a capabilities based approach to analysis, metrics are recommended and developed to measure organizational performance. Performance improvements such as increased responsiveness and efficiency are measured in the context of Situation Awareness (SA), in a form consistent with the framework of a Capability Maturity Model. This paper offers five levels of Shared Situational Awareness that can provide the basis for assessing an organization in a specific domain relevant to FORCEnet. These resourc...

: Research shows that over 60% of missions conducted under remote supervision within Command and Control Systems can fail to meet command intent when military decision makers encounter the unexpected. Operationally most of these failures can be seen as minor setbacks; however, they can also be amplified into strategic disasters given foolish reactions to events. Our research is focused on enhancing the probability of military commanders making wise decisions in chaotic circumstances instead of just reacting to events. We argue that mindfulness training can develop the situational awareness of the individual actor beyond a mind focused on 'what' we want to achieve, into a mind constantly engaged in updating 'how' to achieve it, given the evolving operational situation - a state of mind we term Mindful Competence. Mindful Competence draws upon the many studies of mindfulness which have taken place over the last 30 years. Mindful Competence has three phases: Mindful Acc...

This study examined the relationship between situational awareness a dimension of Social Intelligence and Employee Commitment in the health sector of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The research design adopted for this study is cross sectional survey research design. A total of 339 questionnaires were distributed out of which 313 questionnaires were retrieves of which 273 was found useable. The population of the study is made up of medical Doctors, Nurses, Laboratory Technicians, Pharmacists, Engineers and Administrative staff of the Federal Medical Centre YenagoaBayelsa State, numbering 2220. The study employed the Taro Yamen's technique to arrive at the sample size of 339. Spearman's Rank Order correlation coefficient was used for the bivariate analysis and partial correction was used for the multivariate analysis with the aid of SPSS 20.0. The findings revealed a highly significant level of relationship between Situational Awareness and Employee Commitment. In conclusion the study found out that situational awreness influences employee commitment and this enhances outcomes such as maintaining high performance standards and achieving high performance goals which is further enhanced by the culture of the organization. The study recommends that leadership in the health sector should apply social intelligence skills to connect with others in order to boost employees performance.

This paper is the second paper in a series of 4 papers addressing the enabling of the capability of delivering real-time mission updates to en-route battlefield commander using Mobile IPv6 over airborne networking. This particular paper sets forth to address the issue of situational awareness by answering 3 questions: 1) “What is situational awareness?” 2) “What are the misconceptions of situational awareness?” and 3) “What is SA to the battlefield commander?” By answering these three questions this paper sets the stage for a follow-on paper to discuss the actually engineering and delivery of  a system to provide the capability delivering real-time mission updates to en-route battlefield commander using Mobile IPv6 over airborne networking.

Situation awareness is an important and critical activity for every operation that requires progressive monitoring and analysis for audit and improvement of the process by concerned authorities. The job can be automated and can be managed through software utilities. The modern state of the art technology called Geographic Information System (GIS) has enhance the war fighting capability in a dynamic way with rapid response. Recent advancements and cooperation of previous standalone technologies especially in the field of geographic information systems, remote sensing (RS), communication, computing, imaging, electronics, telemetry, navigation, and above all miniaturization have opened new avenues for information collection and transmission from the field under the constantly evolving incident reporting and management frameworks attuned to geophysical and socio-economic environment. While manifestation of these frameworks may vary, above mentioned technologies are now accepted as fundamental enablers in the ‘Incident Reporting and Management Cycle’ to meet the informational requirements in a prompt, collaborative and efficient manner. With information being pivotal, ‘information cycle’ of acquisition, collation, analysis, and dissemination integrates it into the decision making. However, at the onset of incident, intensive information requirements related to command, control, coordination and cooperation usually exceed available information. Rescue Operations in all its phases are essentially pivoted on decision making that required updated information from the field. Floods of 2010-2012 and Awaran Earthquake have highlighted that information from the field remained unstructured with delayed availability to the relevant decision makers. Resultantly, response in all phases of disaster management was adversely affected. Based on the lessons learnt while providing geospatial support to these rescue operations, ‘PakApp’ has been designed and implemented, it is a system composed of GPS enabled cameras, smart phones and associated information and communication technologies to overcome the identified information shortfalls and bottlenecks. The system enables the field operators to capture the geo-coded imagery, annotate it, fill the structured data collection forms and pass to Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) in near real-time. At EOCs this information can be associated with other sources, collated, analyzed and disseminated for informed decision making enabling proactive responses at various tiers. While few system components such as GPS enabled cameras were fielded during rescue operations. It is envisaged that adoption of this cost-effective field deployable capability would enhance capacity of rescue management system in concerned institutions of Pakistan. In this research work, we identified the requirements and capabilities for common product of Web-based GIS and shared them jointly, which allowed us to regenerate many of the different objects and software variants which allow software engineer to configure his own application. We then define the functionality and technical architecture of a highly configurable system that uses current technology to develop web-based applications. Lastly, we designed a tool to configure and assemble components to generate desired products. Subsequently the proposed platform is so flexible to create own GIS product as per the specific needs of each customer.

Research on building occupancy modeling is becoming increasingly important and prevalent, as occupancy is closely related to building energy efficiency, lighting control, security monitoring, emergency evacuation, and rescue operations. Building occupancy is time-sequenced occupancy changes that represent how occupants occupy a building, including both occupant presence and occupant number. Extensive research has been carried out to model building occupancy based on ambient sensing. However, occupancy models reported in previous work are mostly used to detect and estimate the occupancy in the same spaces, where the models are trained, and the generalizability of existing occupancy models to different spaces has not been explored. In general, collecting precise and continuous occupancy data for each space for training can be time consuming and intrusive. In most cases, it might not be realistic to have access to actual occupancy for all of the spaces in a building, thus it is difficult to establish an individual model for each space and improve large-scale occupancy awareness at the building level. We present a systematic framework for cross-space occupancy modeling through non-intrusive ambient sensing and relationship learning, by which the model was trained in one space and then applied to other geometrically similar spaces. Six rooms in two buildings were selected to validate the effectiveness of the framework. It was found that daily F-measure ranged from 0.71 to 0.94 with the mean of 0.80, and daily RMSE ranged from 0.42 to 1.72 with the mean of 1.23 for all classes of occupancy. Daily occupied/unoccupied detection accuracy ranged from 0.79 to 0.99 with the mean of 0.91; and the daily number estimation accuracy ranged from 0.63 to 0.78 with the mean of 0.71, when only the occupied periods were considered. The results showed that the F-measure and daily RMSE had an approximately negative linear relationship while the daily occupied/unoccupied detection accuracy had an approximately positive logarithmic relationship with the daily number estimation accuracy. Three potential influential factors on cross-modeling performance were also investigated. It was found that the level of real-time occupancy variation, the degree of long-term occupancy difference between spaces, and the operation of HVAC systems had negatively logarithmic, linear, and logistic relations with the daily cross-space occupancy modeling accuracies, respectively.