Expansion of Situations Theory for Exploring Shared Awareness in Human-Intelligent Autonomous Systems

Abstract

Intelligent autonomous systems (IAS) are part of a system of systems (SoS) that interact with other agents to accomplish tasks in complex environments. However, IAS-integrated SoS add additional layers of complexity based on their limited cognitive processes, specifically shared situation awareness (SSA) that allows a team to respond to novel tasks. IAS's lack of SSA adversely influences team effectiveness in complex task environments, such as military command-and-control. A complmentary approach of SSA, called situations theory, is beneficial for understanding the relationship between SoS's SSA and effectiveness. The current study elucidates a conceptual discussion on situations theory to investigate the development of an SoS's shared situational awareness when humans team with IAS agents. To ground the discussion, the reviewed studies expanded situations theory within the context of SoS that result in three major conjectures that can be beneficial to the design and development of future SoSs.