A task analysis of pier side ship-handling for virtual environment ship-handling simulator scenario development

Abstract

Researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Divisions (NAWCTSD) in Orlando, FL have developed a testbed for the Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) Ship-handling simulator. The purpose of this task analysis was to provide a workable document that they could use in the development of pier side ship-handling scenarios for their simulator. The task analysis not only identified the general procedures and methodologies used by a conning officer during pier side ship-handling evolutions but also provided inventories of the perceptual cues that were used specifically for these evolutions. The approach taken was to use a Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection Rules (GOMS)-like model to represent the logical sequence of methods used by the conning office Critical Cue Inventories (CCI) were then developed to supplement the GOMS model by providing a list of the cues used along with detailed descriptions of why the cue was used and how it was visually or audibly identified. The accuracy of the pier side ship-handling task analysis was then 14