Ongoing Projects
Listed here is a sampling of some of our current projects at Micro Analysis & Design. Please visit this page often as we will update it so you can learn about other projects. Thank you for your interest in our products and services!
Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA)
IMPRINT 7
Ship Manpower Requirements and Analysis Tools (SMART)
NASA Aviation Safety Program - Human Performance Modeling
Cultural Modeling for Command and Control (CMCC)
Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA)
The Robotics CTA is now in its 3rd year. The Robotics CTA is one of five collaborative technology alliances for basic research and experimentation funded by the Army Research Lab. MA&D is the Research Technical Lead for the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) technical area within the Robotics CTA. The Robotics CTA project emphasis has switched this year from conducting basic research to taking that research and experimenting with it in the field. Lots of new and exciting technologies in perception and algorithms to improve the autonomous mobility capabilities of the robotic vehicles have been implemented by Academia. MA&D’s focus has been on designing a new single panel Operator Control Unit (OCU) that can be mounted in a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) or hummer. This OCU provides a multi-modal input and out interface to the soldiers and is designed for use while in a moving vehicle traversing cross-country. The system includes a Spoken Language Interface (SLI) that can control and interact with the computing system. Underlying the control system is an Intelligent Control Architecture that helps the soldier monitor the status of the battlefield and assets under his control and provides help in achieving the mission. With these capabilities the soldier is able to control multiple unmanned ground and air vehicles simultaneously. The entire system together basically sums up to a force multiplier for the Army.
IMPRINT 7
MA&D, in coordination with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), is happy to announce the release of IMPRINT 7. IMPRINT, The Improved Performance Research Integration Tool, provides the means for estimating manpower, personnel, and training requirements and constraints for new weapon systems early in the acquisition process. This new version is essentially a 32-bit version of the previous version, IMPRINT 6. Besides alleviating the rare Windows related memory pitfalls of the 16-bit IMPRINT 6, this new version also includes a handful of new features. Navigation throughout IMPRINT has been simplified with the addition of a hierarchical ‘navigation tree’ to the IMPRINT 7 main window. Users now have the ability to create their own environmental stressors that will allow them to craft more specific, relevant human performance shaping factors. The network diagram has been enhanced as well, in addition to various upgrades to the IMPRINT GUI. IMPRINT 7 also comes with an updated, more comprehensive User’s Guide and Help. MA&D and ARL have already begun working on the next generation of IMPRINT, IMPRINT Pro. IMPRINT Pro is being developed in .NET and will feature a new user interface and incorporate MA&D’s newest version of Micro Saint, Micro Saint Sharp.
Ship Manpower Requirements and Analysis Tools (SMART)
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) recognized the need for tools to help analysts plan for, design, and most importantly, evaluate alternative manning and automation concepts prior to attempting to implement technology. To help meet these needs, ONR and NSWC sponsored the Ship Manpower Requirements and Analysis Tools (SMART) project. The goal of this four year (FY98-01) effort was to provide the Navy Manpower Analysis Center, Millington, TN, and US Navy ship acquisition programs with a process, models and tools for assessing manpower and workload requirements for future platforms before any metal is bent. The primary product from the effort was the development of a manpower-modeling tool entitled SMART Build 3. A primary strength of SMART Build 3 is that it supports a flexible analysis approach through which a system designer can apply varying levels of fidelity to the analysis of manning and automation alternatives. The scope of the functional analyses includes shipboard operations, facilities maintenance, unplanned corrective maintenance, and preventative maintenance.
SMART Build 3 assists designers in assessing the impact of reduced manning levels on performance in various dimensions of the systems. These include the levels of automation required and the allocation of tasks to human operators of the system. Users of SMART Build 3 can evaluate and trade-off these factors to determine the ultimate affordability of the new system. Costs associated with a new system include the dollar cost of developing the system, including new automation, and the costs of the required crew. SMART Build 3 combines two mature technologies: 1) skill and ability taxonomy, and 2) human performance modeling.
Nasa Aviation Safety Program - Human Performance Modeling
The primary objective of this multi-year, multi-phased effort is to develop computational models with predictive capabilities that will enable designers and analysts to identify likely vulnerabilities in human/system aviation operations. The project integrates two distinctly different modeling tools, IMPRINT and ACT-R into a unique tool that can predict human error efficiently. IMPRINT is a discrete event network simulation tool that is especially efficient in modeling procedural tasks. ACT-R is designed specifically for modeling human cognition. The integrated tool takes advantage of the strengths of each modeling environment. The first phase of this effort, which was completed in December of 2001, used the integrated tool to build models of an aviation-based scenario provided by NASA involving aircraft taxi navigation for which human error data are available. Future phases of the project will model the effectiveness of synthetic vision display technologies in commercial aircraft cockpits.
Cultural Modeling for Command and Control (CMCC)
CMCC is an Agent-based Modeling and Behavioral Representation (AMBR) approach that provides Intelligent Controller Nodes (ICN) for different battlefield entities. The CMCC project is providing a modifiable model for Integrated Air Defense System (IADS) operations that represent behaviors from different cultures. The system uses a constructive modeling and simulation framework that allows representations of different IADS Ground Command Post behaviors and links these behaviors into the Joint Integrated Mission Model for virtual simulations, combat execution and assessment. AFRL initiated this effort to develop and demonstrate new capabilities for implementing intelligent controller nodes.
The specific goals of the AMBR Program are to:
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Advance the state of the art in cognition and behavioral modeling.
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Focus on psychological issues, not physical models of mission space.
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Develop Intelligent Agents capable of initiating, observing and reacting within operational battlefield environments. Agents will be highly intelligent, support multiple goals, and have situated cognition (both reactive and proactive) behaviors. Allows representation of varying OPFOR tactics and behaviors.
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Provide the Air Force with the capability to define and quickly compose goal-driven human entity behaviors with an easy to use model development environment.
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Integrate high-fidelity human behavioral modeling tools with the Joint Integrated Mission Model (constructive, virtual, and live experimentation capability).
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Assess the effectiveness of the CMCC through participation in major Air Force experiments.
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Transition CMCC to operational users. Targeted end-users include National Air Intelligence Center.
Currently mission models of command and control entities are relatively low fidelity or contain fixed behaviors of certain cultural operational tactics and procedures. This project will establish a process and supporting modeling tools that are generic yet extremely powerful, and that can be reused to develop other realistic OPFOR intelligent controller nodes and, therefore; significantly increasing the overall realism contained within the JSB. The CMCC will provide a framework allowing analysts to construct multiple models representing the cultural diversity of mission areas. The framework will be extremely useful for any environment that requires extensive interaction between human decision makers involved in command and control of forces. The approach is innovative in that it provides the Air Force with the ability to define and compose other entity behaviors within the CMCC framework.
