Mission-oriented situation awareness information requirements of submariners: A goal directed task analysis

As the basis for ensuring correct situation awareness (SA), the identification of SA information requirements is crucial for the safe operation of complex human-machine systems. Many studies have emphasised the importance of identifying SA information requirements; however, they have not precisely defined the information items, especially in the field of manned submersibles. This study considers the sampling task of manned submersibles as a case study and presents a modified Goal-Directed Task Analysis (GDTA) that integrates the operational process by transforming the traditional goal-decision-information interview into a goal-decision-process interview. The transcript was graphically coded and analysed using task-network modelling techniques and complex network analysis. The information processing behaviour elements and logical relationships were obtained by exploring the tacit expert knowledge hidden in the process, thus distinguishing the operation-level information requirements with causal properties based on the identification of the perception-level information. The results assigned priority differences to perception-level information in terms of goal attainment and revealed the submariners’ SA information requirements during the sampling task in an interpretable manner. This study extends the applicability of GDTA and can be used to provide theoretical foundation for the systematic and structured information presentation of SA-supporting information systems in complex cockpit environments.