HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING
REAL WORLD PROBLEMS, PART I
Well, here you are in the final stages of this course. We hope you've
learned to identify human factors issues in systems design. In the next two
lessons, we're going to give you the opportunity to practice what you've
You'll be taken through the development of several systems, and
you will be required to decide what information is important, how to analyze
the relevant data, and what to do with the results of your analyses.
these lessons you will be using HEL Technical Memorandum 29-76, 'Guide for
Obtaining and Analyzing Human Performance Data in a Materiel Development
Project.' So, be sure that you have this document handy.
For the purposes of this lesson, assume that you have become a leading
designer of military equipment for the government of a newly formed island
country called 'The United Colonies of the Atlantic (UCA).' Your defense
budget is fairly large for a country the size of UCA, but quite small
compared to the major world powers.
Your country has an urgent need to
provide offensive and defensive military capabilities.
leaders have issued the following requirement to you.
You must produce a
system which has broad capabilities to:
(1) Travel at sustained speeds of 35 mph in rough terrain.
(2) Travel from island to island at speeds of 150 mph.
(3) Conduct coastal defense missions.
In other words, you are required to develop a surface-air-land vehicle
(SALV). There are 10 islands in your chain and the government has decided
that five SALVS are required to defend the islands. You have a budget of
.2 billion per year to dedicate to developing the SALVS.
So, let's see. What should your first question be? Before you begin
to develop a design for the SALVS, we think you should determine whether the
United Colonies really need this new system.
From the recesses of your
memory, you probably recall that other countries already have a defense
system of the SALV type. Existing systems are limited to speeds of 20 mph
on land. In addition, the old SALVS don't have undersea capabilities, only
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