Deep System Knowledge Required: Revisiting UCD Contribution in the Design of Complex Command and Control Systems

Abstract

Command and control systems centralize information from multiple underlying systems to support operators in the performance of their mission. Beyond the mission itself (that may be complex), operators must also ensure the correct functioning of these systems (often called platform). Platform systems (e.g. engines or electric system) may be very different from each other and exhibit a large number of functional states. When applied to the design of command control systems, User Centered Design methods support understanding and capturing operators’ needs to perform the mission, as well as to propose solutions to design usable mission-related user interfaces. However, user interfaces for platform management need to present and organize information about the underlying complex systems. Understanding those systems and abstracting away information about their behavior (so that operators can manage them) requires deep knowledge beyond UI/UX designers and UCD methods experts. In this paper, we propose a system-centered process that would complement UCD approaches for the design of command and control systems. That process takes as input the detailed functioning of underlying systems and provides abstract and structured information to inform UCD methods. Beyond supporting usability property, the integrated process supports reliability and safety properties that UCD approaches usually overlook. We present how the proposed process has been applied for the design of a large civil commercial aircraft warning system and show generalizability to other domains.