Experiments with the Combat CAS: Unifying Net-Enabled Teams

Abstract : This paper summarizes the results of a series of controlled Human-in-the-Loop experiments with teams of distributed warfighters engaged in combat scenarios enacted on wargame simulators. Viewed in the light of complexity theories the significant results show that increasing the self-similarity of a CAS (Complex Adaptive System), or warfighting team, composed of agents, or warfighters, with respect to their shared decision-making processes and shared schema of the battlespace, increases the quality of their shared mental models, including situational awareness and plan quality, and thereby increases the combat effectiveness and agility of the team. The experiments show firstly that teams sharing a common network, decision-making processes and broadened schema of the battlespace increase self-similarity by moving from use of Local Tactical Picture schema to a Common Operational Picture (COP) schema thus enabling all members to share a common input. This alignment results in significantly increased situational awareness, shared situational awareness, and combat effectiveness. Then moving from COP to Collaborative COP, thus enabling a common planned output from the team and shared feedback of results on the COP, yields further significant increases in situational awareness, shared situational awareness, combat effectiveness and agility for the warfighting team as a unit.