There are inherent difficulties in designing an effective Human–Machine Interface (HMI) for a first-of-its-kind system. Many leading cognitive research methods rely upon experts with prior experiences using the system and/or some type of existing mockups or working prototype of the HMI, and neither of these resources are available for such a new system. Further, these methods are time consuming and incompatible with more rapid and iterative systems development models (e.g., Agile/Scrum). To address these challenges, we developed a Wargame-Augmented Knowledge Elicitation (WAKE) method to identify information requirements and underlying assumptions in operator decision making concurrently with operational concepts. The developed WAKE method incorporates naturalistic observations of operator decision making in a wargaming scenario with freeze-probe queries and structured analytic techniques to identify and prioritize information requirements for a novel HMI. An overview of the method, required apparatus, and associated analytical techniques is provided. Outcomes, lessons learned, and topics for future research resulting from two different applications of the WAKE method are also discussed.

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In response to the incidence of oculofacial traumas that were observed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, military medical care provider training programs have placed an increased focus on the treatment of ocular traumas. As such, the Lateral Canthotomy and Cantholysis (LCC) Training System was developed to simulate the anatomy of the human eye and to mimic the symptoms of an eye that is afflicted with a retrobulbar hemorrhage. We report a mixed-methods psychophysics study that was conducted during the development of the LCC Training System to determine the appropriate retrobulbar pressure to be simulated by the trainer to provide anatomically accurate sensations of pressure. More than 200 eye inserts with either pre-or post-LCC pressures were evaluated by oculofacial trauma subject matter experts. The captured evaluations enabled the research team to identify and specify the pressure requirements that would be used by manufacturers to produce an anatomically and tactically-accurate trainer.