ABSTRACT
Human factors/ergonomics professionals regularly study the situation awareness (SA) problems of pilots, air traffic controllers, automobile drivers, power plant workers, ambulance dispatchers, urban search and rescue professionals, and unmanned vehicle operators, to mention a few. This chapter reviews a growing body of literature that uses the assessment techniques discussed earlier to demonstrate that a particular new technology is superior to traditional technology not only in improving performance but also in fostering SA. It shows how the application of SA can anticipate and help solve problems of usability in system design, train and evaluate professionals, and predict skills. Team SA was scored as the congruence between the team's judgments about their teammates' activities and what participants themselves said they were doing. The success of the various training programs described rests on principles for developing differentiated perceptual strategies and mental models. Techniques for measuring SA have proliferated, generating great interest and discussion.
