Situation assessment through collaborative human-computer interaction

Data fusion has been characterized as taking place at four levels oi abstraction: the unit level, the situation level, the threat level, and the resource allocation level. A unit level characterization tries to pin down the attributes of individual platform objects, At the situation level, organized groups of units, such as battle groups, are explored. At the threat level and resource allocation level, reasoning about possible enemy intentions and possible responses is undertaken. Little work, however has been done concerning some of the higher levels of abstraction, namely the force and threat levels. This paper presents an approach toward situation assessment which includes explicit conceptualizations of forces and threats. Graphical representations of these forces and threats are designed to enhance the unit level depiction without obscuring it. This paper explores a novel style of user interface-one designed to allow collaboration between the person and the machine, enabling a tactical assessment which is superior to one in which either the person or the machine works in isolation. The paper will then describe a natural division of responsibilities between person and machine and illustrate the benefit of such a collaborative system in light of an example based on a warfare scenario.