Human Factors Research and Issues in UK Defence and Aerospace

4th Report of the Human Factors National Advisory Committee

Jan 2004

1

Scope of the HFNAC

In 2002, the Human Factors Advisory Committee (HFNAC) began to influence the behaviour of the funding bodies, based on background information gathered and analysed by the HFNAC since its inception in February 1999. This continued in 2003. The outlook for the future is also good as the HFNAC already knows that it has had influence on 2004 funding programmes and beyond, in some cases this is because of the long length the funding cycles involved and that influence now will not affect programmes until 2004/5 or even 2006. The work of the HF NAC now has momentum and it is continuing to review research requirements to better include academia, very long term and safety-related research and to ensure that the priorities are current.

MoD and DTI set up a network of NACs as a consequence of the 1995 Foresight Defence and Aerospace Panel report. Currently the HFNAC reports to the Research and Technology Panel of the National Defence and Aerospace Panel (NDASP) which in turn reports directly to the DIC and the Aerospace Panel of the DTI. Currently, the HF NAC draws its membership from industry, MoD, academia, research funding bodies, the CAA, NATS and the HSE (see Appendix A for detailed membership list).

The HF NAC's objective is to identify research priorities for the aerospace and defence sector in the field of human factors for the various bodies that fund research in this area. These priorities are aimed at influencing the allocation of funding, avoiding duplication of effort, and increasing the value and 'pull through' from UK funded research. The focus is also on contribution to future UK wealth creation. To enable this the HF NAC has endeavoured to establish:

  • research priorities for industry;
  • areas of common interest between UK research programmes;
  • areas of overlap in programmes;
  • gaps in activity and funding.

HF NAC Activities

Influencing the DTI and MoD

The main activity of identifying research priorities has continued and all of the work undertaken by the HFNAC feeds into this activity. This year the topics list itself has not been updated, however, the material supporting the list has been refined to ensure that the topics within each subject area are clear, as not all topics within a subject area require research (see Appendix B for details). Eight essential areas for research were identified, plus a number of significant areas:

ESSENTIAL / SIGNIFICANT
Design Process; / Visual Performance
Decision Making; / Physiological Monitoring
Human Error; / Workload
Situational Awareness; / Anthropometrics
Interaction Technologies; / Training Effectiveness
Automation; / Team Working
Through Life Support / Command and Control
Human Factors aspects of Certification

These research themes will be familiar to many Human Factors professionals. However, this is because they are central to the design and development of Aerospace and Defence systems. As changes occur in the way in which armed forces are deployed during conflict, the manner in which companies undertake research and development, and in the public’s attitude towards risk and safety may result in new requirements for Human Factors research. In 2003 the HFNAC began to consider the impact of these future developments on the research priorities this thinking will be concluded in 2004.

Influence on research priorities with the DTI has been significant. In July 2003 there was a DTI call, jointly organised with the Avionics and Flight Systems NAC and the Synthetic Environment NAC (see Appendix C for details of the Call). With up to £4 million of funding to sponsor up to a total of £8 millions of UK research. This call was very successful and resulted in some 100 plus project applications. Unfortunately, just as the selected projects were about to informed that they should submit a full proposal to the DTI the DTI's own funding process reviewed and funding of new projects was put on hold. After much negotiation the DTI raised funding for three projects with a total value of £3 million. Currently, these projects are being contracted by the DTI and it is anticipated that they will become active in early 2004.

In 2003 each NAC was tasked by the R&T Panel with identifying key emerging technologies with an introduction to operation horizon of 10-20 years (see Appendix D for report). These key technologies will have a profound influence on the direction and structure of defence and civil Aerospace. The technologies identified[1] (listed below) each raise specific and significant human related issues that must be resolved if optimum impact is to be obtained from their ultimate introduction:

  • internet/intranet like capabilities;
  • transfer technology such as data links;
  • satellite communications;
  • encryption and quantum cryptography;
  • self-healing systems;
  • fault tolerant design, health monitoring and support systems, and re routing;
  • autonomous and semi-autonomous decision-making;
  • integration of data and information;
  • control and display technologies;
  • power sources;
  • socio-technical understanding of the impacts of emerging technologies.

These findings were combined with the HF research priorities to give a comprehensive view of the HF research needs.

In the last year the MoD has been undertaking a review of requirements in various ways:

  • National Defence Industry Technology Strategy Update (NDITS Update)
  • EPSRC Disruptive Technologies in Aerospace and Defence review

Input has been produced by the HFNAC directly for the NDITS review (see Appendix E) and the EPSRC input has be used to produce a second version of the emerging technologies. The MoD has informed the HFNAC that one of its key future areas is Network Enabled Capability and the HFNAC is now working to ensure that the MoD is aware that significant HF issues are involved in this topic. The HF NAC also has several members who serve on the Defence Scientific Advisory Council Chemical Biological and Human Sciences Board and the Human Sciences Committee, which further help to join up MoD and HFNAC thinking and activities.

In addition the HF NAC continued to support the DTI with inputs on HF issues, in particular the HF NAC has supplied input to and recommendations on the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team Report for the DTI Aerospace Committee this year (see Appendix F). Also, in the avionics area, the HF NAC has offered to support setting up and structuring other NACs and increasing possibilities for cross disciplinary research influenced by other NACs. Finally, in the light of the changes in the DTI the HFNAC will be looking to support changes in their processes. This is likely to involve consideration of how to develop cross sector linkage for research topic identification and building collaboration partnerships for HF within the aerospace and defence industry.

Liaison with Other Funding Bodies

EPSRC, as a forward looking organisation, have recognised the connectivity that the HFNAC can bring. The linking academia to industry has enabled an exchange of knowledge, ideas etc. that is valuable and informs EPSRCs business planning process. The HF NAC continued to work closely with EPSRC, serving a second term on its ‘Information and Communications Technologies’ Strategic Advisory Team (which has a HF theme). This link has enabled the HF NAC membership to give EPSRC feedback on proposed policy and direction. A HF NAC representative has now been asked to serve a second term into 2004. This has enabled the HF NAC to bring some of the major concerns over EPSRC practice and funding of HF research to the attention of EPSRC. The HFNAC have been instrumental in facilitating the potential CAA Chair in the aircraft safety system, with additional EPSRC support.

The HF NAC research topics have been sent to the HSE, CAA and ESRC for inclusion in their processes.

HFNAC Other Activities and Wider Links

The primary terms of reference of the HFNAC are to identify the research priorities which will enhance industries competitiveness and the countries defence capability. However it has become apparent over the years of HFNAC activity that other issues must be addressed in order for the HFNAC to succeed in its task or for the resulting research to have influence. It is also the case that to encompass the wider HF community the HFNAC must seek opinions from beyond the HFNAC itself. The following sections cover these issues and the links in operation.

Since it stated work the HFNAC it has tried to elicit the opinion of the wider HF community . It has done this through the activity of long standing sub-groups and affiliated organisations, short term initiatives lead by members of the HFNAC and symposia.

Symposium

The HFNAC has not held a symposium this year as the amount of work it entails is very high and difficult to undertake year on a mainly voluntary basis. However the HFNAC would like to run a symposium in 2004 however some funding would be required to support this activity and currently no mechanism to do is available.

Sub-Groups

The current sub-groups are the Human Protection and Survival sub-group (see below) and the research priority sub-group (covered above). The affiliated organisations include the MoD industrial Human Factors Working Group and the Industrial MoD Command and Digitisation Group. Historically the input of these two groups has been sort on an ad-hoc basis, however recent discussion have lead to an agreement that in future years these groups will be asked to supply formal input to the research priorities and provide a report on other activities to the HFNAC for summary and appending to the annual report. One activity the HFNAC have endeavoured to help the MoD Industrial Command and Digitations Group is an Acceptance workshop. It appeared that this was a possibility that could be supported under the DTI network fund, if the scope was widened to include Civil Aerospace issues. Unfortunately the DTI processes changed before this could be finalised, but other sponsors are being sought.

Similar links have been made with the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Human Factors groups, but are currently not well maintained. At this time activity of these centres mainly CRM, however the situation will be monitored and should sub-groups in the HF area become active strong links will be sort.

Human Protection and Survival Subgroup In 2001 the HF NAC established the Human Protection and Survival Subgroup to review and report upon UK priorities in research relating to protection and survival issues in the Defence and Aerospace environments. The Subgroup’s Progress Report is attached as Appendix G. Much of the work of the Subgroup is driven by military rather than civilian requirements and Subgroup members have been busy supporting recent UK Armed Forces commitments. Furthermore, the organisation of Defence research expenditure is under review and, as it will have an impact on the work of the Subgroup, this is described briefly in the Report. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the progress of theSubgroup towards meeting its TORs has been necessarily limited. However, a Workshop was undertaken to identify gaps in future research in relation to human protection and survival in the Defence and Aerospace domains and useful representation was achieved from Government, Industry and Academia. The Report describes the outcome of the Workshop and concludes with an assessment of the strategic requirement for ongoing research into human protection and survival in relation to current Defence Policy and the need for ongoing Subgroup activity.

HF NAC Short-term Initiatives

The short term initiatives are run by the HFNAC mainly running with HFNAC members, the voluntary nature of the activity means that progress is far slower that the HFNAC would like on all of these topics. Funding to instigate short term research activities would greatly enhance the results and impact of HFNAC work. The DTI have provided funding for a project in one area (Wealth Creation, see below) and this work will be reported in the Spring of 2004, further such support would be very valuable.

Wealth Creation StudyOn the recommendation of the HF NAC the DTI has directly sponsored a project on how HF practice can be related to increased wealth. This project is due to report in March 2004.

Database In order to optimise the identification of research priorities the HFNAC feels that knowledge of the current research, specifically in the UK, and more generally international would b very valuable. Despite several initiatives, this year focused on academics, to collect such data they have failed to gather significant input. The HFNAC believe that to undertaken this task comprehensively without funding is not possible. Hence current recommendations have to be based on only the knowledge the group can bring to the discussions.

Education and Training In order to ensure the HF research can be undertaken top-class scientists working in the Human Factors domain in the UK are required. In addition HF staff to utilise the research findings within industry are also required. This year the HFNAC has continued its interest in this area and have been looking at the area of HF competencies. The HFNAC is also continuing to be engaged with training course both within the pure HF domain, in associated domains such as psychology, through to all kinds of training. It is hope to draw out some recommendation in the next year.

Professional Development The lack of route to chartered status for HF practitioners is an ongoing issue. The HFNAC is continuing to investigate possibilities of route to resolve this and to find a ‘home’ for HF chartership. This is difficult because the HF community is small in relative number but diverse in its qualification background and daily practices.

National Plan In 2003 the HFNAC has continued to consider the HF NAC national plan. Initial plans have been drawn up for HFNAC approval, however changes in the DTI may affect its scope. This will be considered as the plans of the DTI become clearer.

Pull through of Research to Industry It was hoped that work would be able to be instigate in 2003 on ensuring that theresearch done in the UK’s universities and research institutions is picked up by the industrial sector for subsequent development into new commercial technologies. Due to the number of reviews specific documents requested by the R&T panel time has not been found to begin this work. There are two other related activities, influencing the RAE process and the setting up of HFNAC DRAPS that are closely related to this area and might be included in this activity. However, the publishing of the Lambert Report (to be reviewed at the next HFNAC meeting) may act as a boost to initiate this activity.

Other issues

Secretariat During 2003 the secretariat of the HFNAC was run by Intellect. In order to encourage continuing with NDASP and other NACs the secretariat for 2004 will be run by the SBAC with sponsorship from the DTI. The support of the secretariat is key to the efficient running of the HF NAC.

The Membership It must be reiterated that the membership of the HFNAC and all of the sub groups is voluntary. While the organisation involved allow the members to attend the meeting much of the true work of the committee is given in extra time above and beyond normal working hours in order that the HF NAC may achieve its goals. The HFNAC is very unfortunate that there is a high and consistent level of attendance at meetings and participation by individuals. For this they must be thanked and commended. Appendix A contains a list of members.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The Human Factors discipline in the UK Aerospace and Defence industry, is world-class and in good health. However it must be ensured that effort is undertaken to maintain this position through the investment and support of this area.

While the HFNAC feels that they have been able to significant input to a number of R&T, DTI and MoD requests for information activity and they are now having a significant impact on appropriate research body funding, progress on back ground tasks is slow and therefore the recommendations on the HFNAC have changed little in 2003. The HFNAC has recognised that some of the activities it would wish to undertake and the information required to fully support its work requires more activity than a voluntary committee can undertake alone. It is hoped that with changes at the DTI and MoD that a route to achieving these activities can be found. The HF NAC recommends that:

  • funding for research into the priority areas is identified;
  • further expansion and review of the topics continues to be undertaken;
  • the Human Protection and Survivability Group continues to make input to HFNAC process
  • affiliated sub-groups are encourage to make formal recommendation and to deliver an annual report to the HFNAC
  • work with the funding agencies is continued;
  • work with the wider community is continue, including the running of a symposium[2], and that links with other bodies are established as appropriate;
  • the possibility of HF related DRAPS is investigated;
  • that the need for funding of HFNAC support activites is sort;
  • the current efforts to establish plans and implement them in the issue areas identified by the HF NAC are continued
  • HF Database;
  • Education and Training;
  • Professional development;
  • National Plan;
  • Links between academia and industry.

Appendices