08 Mar 2007
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Jetstream aircraft
The ATC supported BAE Systems' Nimrod MRA4 bid team in optimising their proposals for sonobuoy deployment - a human-intensive activity.
Following a detailed task analysis, a model of the sonobuoy launching activity was developed. The model was used to examine the technical feasibility of laying a pattern of sonobuoys over a given area using a single human operator. The output from the model demonstrated that with the launcher capacity being proposed, only 70% of the sonobuoy barrier could be laid within the time available. Further modelling analysis enabled the Human Factors Department to offer a set of possible solutions, including the need for a 50% increase in the number of sonobuoy launchers installed on the aircraft.
This early human factors analysis provided the Nimrod team with the data needed to modify its initial proposal and hence avoid significant financial costs and delay to the programme, which would have resulted from re-design later in the project. This predictive modelling capability is equally applicable to domains other than aerospace and defence
