Functional Modeling of Constraint Management in Aviation Safety and Command and Control

Abstract: This thesis has shown that the concept of constraint management is instrumental in understanding the domains of command and control and aviation safety. Particularly, functional modeling as a means to address constraint management provides a basis for analyzing the performance of socio-technical systems. In addition to the theoretical underpinnings, six studies are presented.          First, a functional analysis of an exercise conducted by a team of electricity network emergency managers is used to show that a team function taxonomy can be used to analyze the mapping between team tasks and information and communication technology to assess training needs for performance improvement. Second, an analysis of a fire-fighting emergency management simulation is used to show that functional modeling and visualization of constraints can describe behavior vis-à-vis constraints and inform decision support design. Third, analysis of a simulated adversarial command and control task reveals that functional modeling may be used to describe and facilitate constraint management (constraining the adversary and avoiding being constrained by the adversary).          Studies four and five address the domain of civil aviation safety. The analysis of functional resonance is applied to an incident in study four and an accident in study five, based on investigation reports. These studies extend the functional resonance analysis method and accident model. The sixth study documents the utility of this functional modeling approach for risk assessment by evaluating proposed automation for air traffic control, based on observations, interviews, and experimental data.          In sum, this thesis adds conceptual tools and modeling methods to the cognitive systems engineering discipline that can be used to tackle problems of training environment design, decision support, incident and accident analysis, and risk assessment.