Adaptive aiding: crawling before we walk

Implementation of fully adaptive aiding systems is difficult and expensive, requiring the programming of many variables. Two techniques are proposed for simplifying adaptive aid development by severely limiting the levels and kinds of assistance provided. These simplifying strategies are termed operator tailoring and mission-phase tailoring. Each of these techniques has been used at the US Naval Weapons Center to design a different military system, each of which might be termed a semi-adaptive aiding computer program. The two strategies rely on partitioning the levels and kinds of aiding into a few discrete states, rather than providing a continuum of assistance for all possible conditions. The development approach and advantages, disadvantages, and status of the two techniques and the resulting systems are discussed.<>