Nonlinear dynamical characteristics of situation awareness

Abstract

An adequate situation awareness (SA) is recognised as one of the necessary elements for optimal decision making. At present, there are a large number of studies that recognise that SA is dynamic. However, these studies have rarely been able to advance further knowledge on SA dynamics. The studies have been unable to accommodate the inherently nonlinear and possibly chaotic behaviour of SA. Therefore, this study proposes a quantitative model to explore some of these nonlinear dynamical characteristics of SA. The study results suggest that the supply rate of useful information is an important parameter that influences the quality of SA. A higher rate of information supply does not necessarily improve SA. On the contrary, if the supply rate is increased beyond a certain threshold, SA starts bifurcating. A further increase in this rate results in SA becoming chaotic. Such bifurcation and chaotic behaviour result in SA degradation. Therefore, it is argued herein that the highest level of SA can be achieved by maintaining the supply rate of useful information just below the threshold where SA first starts bifurcating. Further, the implications of such a high level of SA on various spheres of optimal decision-making are discussed.