Assessment of Decision Support Systems for Envisioned Human Extravehicular Activity Operations: From Requirements to Validation and Verification

This work presents the results of a laboratory-based study of prototype decision support systems (DSS) for envisioned human extravehicular activity (EVA). A central feature of this work is demonstrating the explicit linkages between DSS design requirements derived from work domain demands with the validation and verification process to examine the utility of specific DSS design solutions. Two DSS prototypes were developed—Baseline and Advanced—that addressed the same set of requirements derived through a cognitive systems engineering (CSE) definition process. The Baseline design was constructed as a minimum derivation from present-day technological standards while the Advanced design incorporated novel software solutions that currently do not exist in the EVA work domain. A representative future domain of human EVA operations was constructed and utilized to evaluate the DSS designs. Both DSS prototype designs were verified to satisfy their design requirements. Furthermore, each design was validated in favor of the Advanced DSS, which outperformed the Baseless DSS in nearly all measures of performance. This work illustrates how the same set of requirements can be satisfied in multiple ways to realize effective DSS solutions.