PERCEPTRONICS SOLUTIONS, INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N221-068

Description

This proposal is to develop an Intelligent Tool for managing HUman Requirements in human-automation systems (ITHUR). Our approach is based on work we performed for the Army and AFRL in the design of a Petri Net based Team Programming Language for Operator Interaction. We have shown that such a language can effectively describe the human component (HC) elements in the overall flow of task dynamics. Our innovative ITHUR concept uses a Petri Net Language with Markup (PNET-M) as an intelligent mechanism for aiding the generation of requirements for interfaces, information flows and constraints in the development of human-automation systems. Generation of the task flow and HC tasks is made easier by a catalog of generic HC task templates that define the dynamic flow of each task. The database will also contain a human components database, listing human capabilities and limitations relevant to each task, and presenting design elements necessary for effective integration of the human components into the system. The resulting PNET-M model and data are a reference point to aid writing requirements for human components without needing expertise in human factors or cognitive science. The task flows and constraints ensure that system requirements are feasible, empirically based, and verifiable.