Adam Rocca, Aryn Pyke, Damilola.Ayanwale, Emily Grooms, Emily Nack, Isaac Bond, Matthew Corbett, Nathaniel Bastian, Patrick Davis
Key take-aways
By incorporating effective depictions of information uncertainty, military leaders can act with improved Situational Awareness (SA) and make better-informed and sounder decisions.
Abstract
SA provided by military decision support systems is limited by the lack of an effective method for displaying information uncertainty, which can hinder subsequent Command and Control (C2) decisionmaking. This work proffers a methodology to assess how SA and subsequent C2 decision-making are improved.via.the.characterization.of.information.uncertainty.in.an.artificial.intelligence-enabled.aided. target recognition use case leveraging a common operating picture displayed on a Tactical Awareness Kit (TAK). A TAK-integrated One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF) solution is used to simulate and assess user SA and C2 decision-making effectiveness in experiments with varied conditions of information uncertainty.
Conclusion
Our work presents a novel, repeatable methodology to explore the impact of different ways to enrich the information on a C2 system (TAKX) Common Operational Picture (COP). Our label and dot+hover designs provided uncertainty information about Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) target identities. To enable low-cost, low-risk user assessment, we designed an operational vignette, simulated it in OneSAF, and used the OneSAF output to populate the TAKX display with a dynamic scenario (with pauses at decision points to assess user SA). The label interface provided the highest SA and ensured that users read all relevant probability information (no hover requirement). Limits of this research include having a small sample of users, and only two alternative designs for representing information uncertainty. To improve the resilience, effectiveness, and ethical grounding of military decision-making there is a need for focused academic research and engineering innovation tailored to the complexity of military operations. By incorporating effective depictions of information uncertainty, military leaders can act with improved SA and make better-informed and sounder decisions.
Year published: 2025
URL: https://www.ieworldconference.org/content/WP2025/Papers/GDRKMCC25_15.pdf