Interface design for engagement planning in anti-air warfare

In future command and control (C2) for anti-air warfare (AAW) the nature of warfare changes from open seas to coastal areas, budget reductions force to ´do more with less´, and technology causes increasing speed and maneuverability of weapons. This results in a higher workload for operators on ships, who are responsible for accomplishing a mission. In this paper, ecological interface design (EID) is applied to C2 to reduce workload and improve situation awareness. New displays were developed to support operators in engagement planning during high load scenarios. The design rationale of the engagement planning interfaces and the results of a first experimental evaluation are discussed.