Human performance and control of multiple systems

Many systems involving multiple remote sensors or machines require a single operator to control more than one device simultaneously. Interface design issues for such systems can be formidable because the inherent complexity of multiple-platform control creates significant opportunities for operator confusion and overload. An exploratory study was conducted to examine some of these issues using a simulated industrial security task. The experiment manipulated the type of remote sensor (fixed-site or mobile), the number of displays that had to be monitored, and two types of event complexity (number of targets and redundancy of target images) using response time as the dependent measure. Results showed that significant performance penalties may be encountered in multiple-platform control and that these penalties accumulate at seemingly low levels of complexity.