Distributed situation awareness in an Airborne Warning and Control System: application of novel ergonomics methodology

This paper applies a distributed theory of situation awareness based upon the analysis of interactions between agents (both human and non-human) in an Airborne Warning and Control System (Boeing E3D Sentry). The basic tenet of this approach is that agents within a system each hold their own component(s) of situation awareness, which may be very different from, but compatible with, other agent’s view of the situation. However, it is argued that it is not always necessary to have complete sharing of this awareness, as different system agents have different purposes. Situation awareness is regarded as a dynamic and collaborative process that binds agents together on tasks on a moment-by-moment basis. Situation awareness is conceptualised as residing at a system, not an individual level. Data were collected from crew-members in theE3D during a series of simulated air battles. These data pertained to task structure, communications between the crew and the collection and analysis of crew actions at critical decision points. All phases of operations were considered. From these data propositional networks were developed in which key knowledge objects were identified. Analysis of these networks clearly shows how the location and nature of distributed situation awareness changes across agents with regard to the phase of operation/air battle.     

Representing situation awareness in collaborative systems: A case study in the energy distribution domain

The concept of distributed situation awareness (DSA) is currently receiving increasing attention from the human factors community. This article investigates DSA in a collaborative real-world industrial setting by discussing the results derived from a recent naturalistic study undertaken within the UK energy distribution domain. The results describe the DSA-related information used by the networks of agents involved in the scenarios analysed, the sharing of this information between the agents and the salience of different information elements used. Thus, the structure, quality and content of each network's DSA is discussed, along with the implications for DSA theory. The findings reinforce the notion that when viewing situation awareness (SA) in collaborative systems, it is useful to focus on the coordinated behaviour of the system itself, rather than on the individual as the unit of analysis and suggest that the findings from such assessments can potentially be used to inform system, procedure and training design. SA is a critical commodity for teams working in industrial systems and systems, procedures and training programmes should be designed to facilitate efficient system SA acquisition and maintenance. This article presents approaches for describing and understanding SA during real-world collaborative tasks, the outputs from which can potentially be used to inform system, training programmes and procedure design.     

Representing situation awareness in collaborative systems: a case study in the energy distribution domain

The concept of distributed situation awareness (DSA) is currently receiving increasing attention from the human factors community. This article investigates DSA in a collaborative real-world industrial setting by discussing the results derived from a recent naturalistic study undertaken within the UK energy distribution domain. The results describe the DSA-related information used by the networks of agents involved in the scenarios analysed, the sharing of this information between the agents and the salience of different information elements used. Thus, the structure, quality and content of each network's DSA is discussed, along with the implications for DSA theory. The findings reinforce the notion that when viewing situation awareness (SA) in collaborative systems, it is useful to focus on the coordinated behaviour of the system itself, rather than on the individual as the unit of analysis and suggest that the findings from such assessments can potentially be used to inform system, procedure and training design. SA is a critical commodity for teams working in industrial systems and systems, procedures and training programmes should be designed to facilitate efficient system SA acquisition and maintenance. This article presents approaches for describing and understanding SA during real-world collaborative tasks, the outputs from which can potentially be used to inform system, training programmes and procedure design.     

A multiagent dynamic interaction testbed: Theoretic framework, system architecture and experimentation

Recent research on Distributed Artificial Intelligence(DAI)has focused upon agents‘ interaction in Multiagent System.sThis paper presents a text understanding oriented multiagent dynamic interaction testbed(TUMIT);the theoretic framework based upon game theory,the free-market-like system marchitecture,and experimentation on TUMIT.Unlike other DAI testbeds,TUMIT views different text understanding(TU)methods as different“computational resources”,and makes agents choose different TU paths and computational resources according to the resouce information on the bulletins in their hostcomputer.Therefore,in TUMIT,task allocation is wholly distributed.This makes TUMIT work like a “free market”.In such a system,agents‘choices and resource load may oscillate.It is shown theoretically and experimentally that if agents use multi-level of “history information”,their behavior will tend to converge to a Nash equilibrium situation;and that if agents use “fecall-forget” strategy on “history information”,the convergence can be accelerated and the agents can acclimate themselves to changed environment.Compared with other DAI testbeds,TUMIT is more distributed,and the agents in TUMIT are more adaptive to the dynamic environment.     

Specification, decomposition and agent synthesis for situation-aware service-based systems

Service-based systems are distributed computing systems with the major advantage of enabling rapid composition of distributed applications, such as collaborative research and development, e-business, health care, military applications and homeland security, regardless of the programming languages and platforms used in developing and running various components of the applications. In dynamic service-oriented computing environment, situation awareness (SAW) is needed for system monitoring, adaptive service coordination and flexible security policy enforcement. To greatly reduce the development effort of SAW capability in service-based systems and effectively support runtime system adaptation, it is necessary to automate the development of reusable and autonomous software components, called SAW agents, for situation-aware service-based systems. In this paper, a logic-based approach to declaratively specifying SAW requirements, decomposing SAW specifications for efficient distributed situation analysis, and automated synthesis of SAW agents is presented. This approach is based on AS³ calculus and logic, and our declarative model for SAW. Evaluation results of our approach are also presented.     

基于信息融合的多智能体协作方法的研究与应用

将信息融合技术运用到多智能体系统中,利用信息融合方法对智能体得到的在空间上分布的其他智能体感知的局部信息进行融合,得到较完整的态势评估,以此来规划和协调多智能体系统的协作行为,提出了一种基于信息融合的多智能体协作方法。将该方法应用在机器人救援仿真系统中,结果表明该方法能够实现全局上的任务分解策略,有效提高了智能体协作能力。     

Analysing situated interaction hazards: an activity-based awareness approach

This paper presents a case for the usefulness of activity theory (AT) for the analysis of situated interaction hazards in safety-related systems. It is suggested here that situation awareness is a safety critical attribute that is acquired and maintained through situated activity or actions. We introduce an activity-based awareness model based on this fundamental premise and we show how the model is consistent with the principles of AT. We also provide an example of the usefulness of AT as a theoretical and practical foundation for the analysis of situated interaction hazards in complex, safety-related systems. Specifically, we describe how the activity-based awareness model and AT principles were applied to an investigation of situation awareness in a military air traffic control system. We show how this approach can also be used to support analyses of general interactive systems use. We suggest that this general approach can be used to support analyses of interactive system use, to inform system design, and mitigate against the situated interaction hazards inherent in safety-related systems, and that this provides evidence that AT can be a useful way of looking at situational hazards in safety-related systems use.     

多智能体系统在分布式采样控制下的动力学行为

本文运用图论、矩阵分析和现代控制理论等工具, 研究信息网络传输下多智能体系统的协调控制和动力学行为. 假设每个智能体通过数字化网络传感器获得其邻近智能体的位置状态,而且多智能体系统采取分布式线性控制协议. 每个智能体被描述为一个简单的采样系统,多智能体系统转化为混合动力学系统. 研究结果表明,多智能体系统所呈现的渐近聚集、周期振荡和发散动力学行为不仅和网络结构的代数特征有关, 而且和每个智能体的动力学方程、采样周期有关. 本文给出了具体精确的代数判据. 仿真例子进一步验证了本文结果的有效性.     

Introducing RiskSOAP to communicate the distributed situation awareness of a system about safety issues: an application to a robotic system

This paper introduces the RiskSOAP (‘RiskSOAP’ is the abbreviation for Risk SituatiOn Awareness Provision.) indicator to measure the capability of a complex socio-technical system to provide its agents with situation awareness (SA) about the presence of its threats and vulnerabilities and enables analysts to assess distributed SA. The RiskSOAP methodology adopts a comparative approach between two design versions of a system differing in the elements and characteristics that can enhance or cause the degradation of the awareness provision capability. The methodology uniquely combines three methods: (1) the STPA hazard analysis, (2) the EWaSAP early warning sign identification approach, and (3) a dissimilarity measure for calculating the distance between binary sets. In this paper, the RiskSOAP methodology was applied to a robotic system and the findings show that the indicator is an objective measure for the system’s capability to provide its agents with SA about its threats and vulnerabilities.

Practitioner Summary: This paper suggests a novel methodology for assessing distributed situation awareness (DSA) regarding safety issues. Given that systems consist of specifications and components possible to be mapped, the risk SA provision capability (RiskSOAP) methodology demonstrates the feasibility of measuring to what extent systems’ elements contribute to the emergence of DSA.     

基于免疫Agent的网络入侵检测系统

结合计算机免疫学原理和多Agent 技术构建了一个网络化、分布式、智能化的入侵检测系统,该系统融合了两者的优势,同时继承了多Agent系统和免疫系统的优点.其特点是能同时进行多层次的监测和不同级别的响应.系统是完全分布式结构,监视Agent生成后在网络上漫游,各个Agent分布在网络的各个结点上,单个结点受到攻击不会影响其他结点的检测能力,避免了单点失效问题.将疫苗概念引入系统,使得各个Agent可以实现互相学习,增强了整个网络的耐受性、"记忆"机制及新抗体生成机制的能力,提高了系统的适应性,不仅能检测到已知的攻击,而且还能检测到未知的攻击.     

Assessing situation awareness in multitasking supervisory control using success rate of self-terminating search

The purpose of this study is to investigate measuring situation awareness (SA) by using the success rate of self-terminating visual search (STVS) in a multitasking supervisory control environment. Currently, many researchers have focused on developing unobtrusive SA metrics in a multitasking environment. Although some of the advanced eye-tracking metrics can estimate the operator's SA during a task, certain methodological issues remain for measuring SA in a supervisory control and multitasking environment. In this study, participants performed a distributed control task with the multi-attribute task battery. To measure the participant's SA, situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT) was used during the experiment. SA performance was compared to the success rate of STVS. An eye-head integrated tracking system was used to measure the rate of STVS based on the participants' eye movements and head positions in different monitoring conditions. The results showed that task-switching activity was influenced by salient features in a display. It causes a significant difference on SA between different monitoring conditions, and the difference is also monitored in the success rate of STVS. Furthermore, the study found that the attention level in visual searching influences situational awareness in a supervisory control environment. The findings from this study suggest that the success rate of STVS could be used as a new metric for measuring SA related to the visual perception of the elements in a multitasking supervisory control environment.     

Keeping it together: The role of transactional situation awareness in team performance

It has been argued that communications in teams are a means of transmitting Situation Awareness to improve performance. This study explored the frequency and types of situation awareness transactions in two groups of teams. Twelve teams were grouped into either more effective or less effective teams, based on performance measures. Distributed Situation Awareness theory predicts that Situation Awareness transaction are a medium for co-ordinating teamwork, and that more of these transaction will lead to improved performance. Differences in the frequency and type of transactions were observed between the more effective teams and the less effective teams with the former having a higher frequency of overall communications and, more importantly, a higher number of relevant situation awareness transaction types compared to less effective teams. Situation awareness transactions supported the team in making sense of the situation they found themselves in as it unfolded and enabled team members to perform their discrete tasks and therefore contribute to overall team success.Relevance to industry: Teams are a major feature of most industrial applications of work and communication play an important role in coordinating team work. Communication has been found to be linked to both team performance and situation awareness. Situation awareness is distributed in teams through transactions of information. A study was devised to explore the differences between more effective and less effective teams on a number of situation awareness transactional factors. Analysing the team as a functional unit of situation awareness is presented for future work.     

Modelling situation awareness for Context-aware Decision Support

Situation awareness modelling is popularly used in the command and control domain for situation assessment and decision support. However, situation models in real-world applications are typically complex and not easy to use. This paper presents a Context-aware Decision Support (CaDS) system, which consists of a situation model for shared situation awareness modelling and a group of entity agents, one for each individual user, for focused and customized decision support. By incorporating a rule-based inference engine, the entity agents provide functions including event classification, action recommendation, and proactive decision making. The implementation and the performance of the proposed system are demonstrated through a case study on a simulated command and control application.     

Mutual awareness in collaborative design: An Augmented Reality integrated telepresence system

Remote collaboration has become increasingly important and common in designers’ working routine. It is critical for geographically distributed designers to accurately perceive and comprehend other remote team members’ intentions and activities with a high level of awareness and presence as if they were working in the same room. More specifically, distributed cognition places emphasis on the social aspects of cognition and asserts that knowledge is distributed by placing memories, facts, or knowledge on objects, individuals, and tools in the environment they work. This paper proposes a new computer-mediated remote collaborative design system, TeleAR, to enhance the distributed cognition among remote designers by integrating Augmented Reality and telepresence technologies. This system can afford a high level externalization of shared resources, which includes gestures, design tools, design elements, and design materials. This paper further investigates how this system may affect designers’ communication and collaboration with focus on distributed cognition and mutual awareness. It also explores the critical communication-related issue addressed in the proposed system, including common ground and social capitals, perspective invariance, trust and spatial faithfulness.     

基于证据理论物联网安全态势感知方法研究

社会物联网技术迅速发展,安全问题日益严重,对简便易用的物联网安全态势感知方法进行了研究.针对当前物联网安全态势感知系统缺乏通用性、过分依赖专家知识的缺点,提出了一种基于改进D-S证据理论的物联网安全态势感知方法.利用模糊高斯隶属函数计算漏洞信息隶属度矩阵,归一化后作为证据分布矩阵;利用改进Topsis方法衡量证据可信度...     

网络安全态势感知研究综述

网络安全态势感知不同于传统的安全措施,它可以对网络中各种活动的行为进行辨识,从宏观的角度进行意图理解和影响评估,进而提供合理的决策支持,在提高网络的监控能力、应急响应能力及预测网络安全的发展趋势等方面都具有重要的意义。分别对态势感知和网络安全态势感知的定义进行了归纳梳理,对经典的态势感知模型和新发展的网络安全态势感知模型进行了总结与对比;介绍了网络安全态势感知的关键技术,主要分为基于层次化分析、机器学习、免疫系统和博弈论的技术;介绍了近年来网络安全态势感知在因特网、工控网和物联网中的应用;对其未来发展趋势和待解决的问题进行了总结与展望。     

A METHOD FOR TEMPORAL KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION USING INDETERMINATE MODEL OF TIME

Integration of knowledge is one of the most important tasks for knowledge management in distributed environments. For the same subject in the real world, each different source may generate different versions of data. Of course, with local integrity constraints these data are consistent, but they may be inconsistent with global integrity constraints. This is a popular phenomenon in processing data from distributed sources in the real world. In this work we will investigate processing inconsistency of knowledge and its integration process using the temporal model of indeterminate valid time and probability. This data model is used to describe events that take place in the future with some certainty degrees. With this model, conflict is considered as a situation in which for the same event agents give different time intervals and probabilities about the occurrence of that event. In the integration process we need to determine a proper time interval and probability (based on consensus method) that properly represent that event. With this aim, two kinds of distance functions are defined as well as analyzed. In addition, some postulates and algorithms for knowledge integration are also worked out and analyzed.     

Policy-based Awareness Management (PAM): Case study of a wireless communication system at a hospital

The present paper evaluates the use of software agents to identify relevance of information, called awareness. This evaluation is based on existing policies and scenarios in the context of wireless communication of a hospital in Norway. The study is to address the lack of literature for experimental studies on a method to employ software agents for awareness identification. Research in computer supported cooperative work indicates the significant contributions of software agents to assist individuals. There are bodies of work that show awareness provides the means for software agents in which effective cooperation can take place. In addition, the role of the methods to identify awareness is emphasized in the literature of both computer supported cooperative work and software agents. This paper explains a step-wise process, called Policy-based Awareness Management, which allows agents to use policies as a source to identify awareness and thus change their behaviors accordingly. The contribution of this method is based on the concepts proposed by the logic of general awareness. The present study applies Directory Enabled Networks-next generation as the policy structure for the method. The paper evaluates the process via its application to identify the relevance of information in wireless communication scenarios in a hospital. The present study conducts observations, interviews and discussions on the wireless communication system of the hospital to identify the different scenarios happening in the system. The paper presents a set of simulations on these scenarios and concludes that the method is effective and cost-efficient.     

A methodology to develop awareness in computer supported collaborative work using policies

Cooperation is significantly influenced by participants' awareness of relevant information. The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology to design and develop applications that assist individuals to identify their awareness. Through extending Cooperative management Methodology for Enterprise Networks (CoMEN), this article introduces Policy-based Awareness Management (PAM) – a software engineering methodology that proposes the use of existing policy rules as a source to identify awareness. The methodology has been built on the logic of general awareness, and implements Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) policy structure. The contribution of the paper is illustrated through the wireless communication system at a hospital in Norway. We conclude that theory of general awareness and in particular PAM as an extension of CoMEN, is effective to identify relevant information for agents.