Comparison of Identify-Friend-Foe and Blue-Force Tracking Decision Support for Combat Identification (Comparaison des Systemes d'aide a la Decision Identification ami ou Ennemi et Suivi des Forces Bleues pour l'Identification au Combat)

摘要

Technologies to support Combat Identification (CID) are rapidly evolving and may be deployable to dismounted soldiers in the future. Two experiments examined the effectiveness of Identify-Friend-Foe (IFF) and Blue- Force Tracking (BFT) decision support for dismounted infantry soldiers. Subjects played the role of a dismounted infantry soldier in a first-person perspective environment and engaged a series of simulated targets. Subjects attempted to engage (i.e., shoot) only those figures that were enemies. Results demonstrated that subjects performed better overall when they were able to use a Decision Support System (DSS) than perform the task without assistance. There was no difference in effectiveness of the IFF and BFT systems. Adding a 10 second delay to the updating of position information in the BFT dramatically reduced the effectiveness of a BFT, regardless of whether subjects knew about the delay or not.