Measuring situational awareness at the small unit tactical level

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose and validate a method to measure the value of situational awareness at the small-unit tactical level. Currently, the Situational Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) is widely considered the best method for measuring situational awareness. However, research on situational awareness is largely focused at the command post level and above, and implementations of SAGAT do not address operations at the small-unit level. In today's Army, technology is a more critical component of modern warfare used to increase the information available to decision makers at all levels. It is presumed that increased levels of available information will facilitate more efficient and effective decisions. However, there are corresponding concerns that such increases will potentially overwhelm the decision maker. We conducted a controlled experiment using the Nett Warrior system and Virtual Battlefield Simulation, Version 2 (VBS2), incorporating a modified form of SAGAT, the Tactical Situational Awareness Test (TSAT), and the principles of cognitive engineering and human factors studies to measure a user's situational awareness. This study finds that TSAT can measure situational awareness at the small-unit tactical level and validates that Nett Warrior increases situational awareness of soldiers in tactical operations.