Returning to periscope depth in a circular control room configuration

Abstract

Previous research has shown that co-location of operators dependent on each other for task-relevant information can relieve the previously identified bottleneck of information between the Sonar Control (SOC) and Operations Officer (OPSO) in submarine sound and control rooms. This research aimed to examine the impact of a novel inwards facing circular configuration on communications and tasks within a co-located control room. Ten teams participated in high and low demand Return to Periscope Depth scenarios in a simulated submarine control room. All communications between operators were recorded and compared with a baseline study of contemporary operation. The findings show that the novel circular configuration led to a reduction in communications, but an increase in information shared. Indicating that the teams had become more efficient at passing relevant information. Furthermore, teams were able to complete a greater number of tasks.

The quest for the ring: a case study of a new submarine control room configuration

“…A number of metrics were derived from AGNA allowing a quantitative assessment of the networks to accompany the descriptive models. A collection of global and nodal metrics (also see: Stanton et al 2021) were calculated as defined in Table 3.…”