Abstract
Previous research has shown that co-location of operators dependent on each other for task-relevant information can relieve the previously identified bottleneck of information between the Sonar Control (SOC) and Operations Officer (OPSO) in submarine sound and control rooms. This research aimed to examine the impact of a novel inwards facing circular configuration on communications and tasks within a co-located control room. Ten teams participated in high and low demand Return to Periscope Depth scenarios in a simulated submarine control room. All communications between operators were recorded and compared with a baseline study of contemporary operation. The findings show that the novel circular configuration led to a reduction in communications, but an increase in information shared. Indicating that the teams had become more efficient at passing relevant information. Furthermore, teams were able to complete a greater number of tasks.
Highlights
1.1 Contemporary submarine control room designSubmarine command teams are characteristic of distributed teams due to their reliance on technology to communicate between the separate sound and control rooms (Cramton 2001; Hinds and Bailey 2003; Hamburger et al 2011; Stanton et al 2017)
The average frequency of communications between operators in the command team varied depending on command team role and scenario demand
Operations Officer (OPSO) had the largest volume of emissions and receptions of all operators, Officer of the Watch (OOW) and TMA1 had a large number of emissions and receptions, in the high demand scenarios
Summary
1.1 Contemporary submarine control room designSubmarine command teams are characteristic of distributed teams due to their reliance on technology to communicate between the separate sound and control rooms (Cramton 2001; Hinds and Bailey 2003; Hamburger et al 2011; Stanton et al 2017). Sonar Operators (SOPs) and Target Motion Analysis operators (TMAs) are reliant on the Sonar Controller (SOC) and the Operations Officer (OPSO), to pass information between the sound room and the control room (Roberts et al 2017a, 2018; Stanton et al 2017). Passive sonar is the key sensor used when operating at depth (Zarnich 1999; Kirschenbaum et al 2014) In such scenarios, the SOPs are required to pass on information about contacts such as bearing, course, and speed (Stanton et al 2017). Due to the distributed nature of the team and the lower status of the SOPs, critical information such as speed and course estimates may not be being shared in some circumstances, hindering completion of an accurate tactical picture (Hinds and Bailey 2003; Stanton et al 2017)
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