Advanced Human Factors Engineering Tool Technologies

This paper presents the results of a study to identify the human factors engineering (HFE) technologies or tools presently used, and projected for use, by HFE specialists. Both traditional and advanced tools were candidates for inclusion in the study, although emphasis of the study was placed on advanced computer applications. Human factors practitioners representing the government, academia and private industry were surveyed to identify those tools most frequently used or viewed as most important for conducting HFE related work. If advanced tool capabilities did not meet existing job requirements, the specialists identified the types of tools they would like to see developed to fill the existing technology gaps. To facilitate the inclusion of new technologies as they become available, and to aid in the search and retrieval of a tool's capabilities, information obtained on the tools was entered into a database. The survey resulted in the identification of 88 advanced tools. The results of the study suggest that although a large number of tools presently exist that are capable of supporting human factors specialists in the practice of their profession, the HFE community needs additional tools, especially those configured to run on a desktop microcomputer. Future emphasis in tool development should focus on expert systems, human factors database compendiums, computer-assisted design (CAD) applications, workload prediction tools, and automated task analysis programs.