A Platoon Level Model of Communication Flow and the Effects on Soldier Performance

Abstract

The Future Combat System (FCS) initiative is at the center of the Army's Future Force Vision. To predict how proposed systems and displays will impact situational understanding and, thereby, decision making, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL HRED) used the tool, Command, Control, and Communication: Techniques for Reliable Assessment of Concept Execution (C3TRACE). C3TRACE is a modeling environment in which one can develop multiple concept configurations quickly and efficiently, minimizing the need for multiple human-in-the-loop experiments. Among the performance measures tracked are operator utilization, completed versus dropped messages, and the probability of making a “good” decision, that is, a decision supported by the required information. C3TRACE was used to develop a model of a Future Combat System (FCS) platoon equipment concept—–wrist-mounted displays for the dismounted positions and laptop-type displays for the mounted positions. This paper discusses the effects of display device communication processing on Soldier performance in mounted vs. dismounted positions.