This book focuses on contemporary human factors issues within the design of soldier systems and describes how they are currently being investigated and addressed by the U.S. Army to enhance soldier performance and effectiveness. It approaches human factors issues from three main perspectives. In the first section, Chapters 1-5 focus on complexity introduced by technology, its impact on human performance, and how issues are being addressed to reduce cognitive workload. In the second section, Chapters 6-10 concentrate on obstacles imposed by operational and environmental conditions on the battlefield and how they are being mitigated through the use of technology. The third section, Chapters 11-21, is dedicated to system design and evaluation including the tools, techniques and technologies used by researchers who design soldier systems to overcome human physical and cognitive performance limitations as well as the obstacles imposed by environmental and operations conditions that are encountered by soldiers.

Understanding human performance with complex systems -- Human performance challenges for the future force: lessons from patriot after the second Gulf War / John K. Hawley and Anna L. Mares -- Who needs an operator, when the robot is autonomous? The challenges and advantages of robots as team members / Keryl A. Cosenzo and Michael J. Barnes -- Effects of operators' spatial ability on their performance of target detection and robotics tasks / Jessie Y.C. Chen -- Reducing workload: a multisensory approach / Linda R. Elliott and Elizabeth S. Redden -- Tactile displays in Army operational environments / Timothy L. White, Andrea S. Krausman, and Ellen C. Haas -- Overcoming operational and environmental conditions -- Operations on the move: vehicle movement and soldier performance / Richard A. Tauson -- Night vision goggle design: overcoming the obstacle of darkness on the ground / Elizabeth S. Redden and Linda R. Elliott -- The effects of encapsulation on dismounted warrior performance / Lamar Garrett, Debbie Patton and Linda Mullins -- Soldier auditory situation awareness: the effects of hearing protection, communications headsets, and headgear / James E. Melzer, Angelique A. Scharine, and Bruce E. Amrein -- Human factors in military learning environments / Valerie J. Berg Rice and Petra E. Alfred -- Assessing and designing systems -- The multi-aspect measurement approach: rationale, technologies, tools, and challenges for systems design / Kelvin S. Oie, Stephen Gordon and Kaleb McDowell -- Future soldier-system design concepts: brain-computer interaction technologies / Brent Lance, Jorge Capo, and Kaleb McDowell -- Soldier-centered design and evaluation techniques / Pamela A. Savage-Knepshield -- Addressing and resolving science and technology capability gaps identified by warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan / Raymond M. Bateman, Charles L. Hernandez and Frank Morelli -- Immersive simulations for dismounted soldier research / Kathy L. Kehring -- Tactical ergonomics: applying manual material handling analysis for current operations / Andrew Bodenhamer and Bradley Davis -- Sizing up the situation: a three-dimensional human figure modeling framework for military systems design / Richard W. Kozycki -- Interface design: dynamic interfaces and cognitive resource management / Thomas W. Davis, Michael S. Jessee and Anthony W. Morris -- Using a holistic analytical approach to meet the challenges of influencing conceptual system design / Diane Kuhl Mitchell and Charneta Samms -- C3trace: modeling information flow and operator performance / Jennifer Swoboda and Beth Plott -- The dynamic network evolution of C2 communications over time / Jeffrey T. Hansberger.