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Designing the future use of emerging sensor technology in the Military Urban environment requires that the technology be both observable and directable. Observability [1] refers to the visibility of system status and the ability to which it allows people to see things they weren't expecting. This rich understanding enables the human stakeholders to fully understand the bounds of technology and reduce episodes of automation surprise [2] which usually lead to deactivation or discontinued use of relevant technology. Additionally, stakeholders will understand areas where the system is weak and strong, so that its use can be optimized and questioned, as appropriate.
In addition to being observable, sensor systems must also be directable. Directability refers to being able to control the technology as necessary based on knowledge of your goals, the system, and how the system works. This demonstrates the value of observability; when as a stakeholder you need to change something, your model of why and how to do so is accurate. Simply creating observable systems with no commensurate directability does not afford stakeholders the means to make necessary changes. The consequences of unobservable and undirectable technology have been well documented, especially in the domains of aviation [2], [3], health care [2], [4] and navigation [5]. Poor observability and directability led to failures in these situations because practitioners were unable to gain a true picture of what the systems were doing or make the changes necessary to stave off disaster.
Observability and directability teach us that the issue is not the level of autonomy or authority, but rather the degree of coordination [6]. This is especially true in high-risk, fast-paced, dynamic environments such as MOUT. In this way, parallels can be drawn between previously observed domains and MOUT, showing us that the MOUT domain is equally susceptible to these types of failures. With regard to sensor technology, we must go beyond the mere availability of information (did the sensor go off?), and begin to provide information that helps the soldier perform his or her job. Rather than attempt to replace the soldier's intelligence with intricate, unobservable algorithms, it is imperative that advances in sensor technology be aimed to complement the soldier as the ultimate stakeholder.
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