<title>Challenges in the assessment of the impact of battlespace digitization</title>

Abstract

In order to determine the benefits of battlespace digitization for C31, the assessment must be performed in a systematic manner within an appropriate framework. This task is particularly challenging, with a multitude of uncontrollable variable and unmeasurable attributes involved in complex Command and Control systems, and with boundary conditions often unspecified. Several factors must be rigorously considered to derive meaningful results and to minimize risks of generating false conclusions. The key properties for quality assurance are reliability and validity. Other factors include effects of uncertainty, which manifest themselves in several ways, This paper examines several important issues in the evaluation, and offers recommendations for the approach.