Collaboration Technologies Decrease Reliance on Radio Communication in Simulated Air Battle Management

Radio has been the dominant collaboration technology in military aviation, but may not be optimal owing to channel overload and static interference. The current study sought to examine how team communication was changed when radio was augmented by text-based chat, a virtual whiteboard, and two ecological resource displays in a simulated air defense task. To accomplish this, twentyone five-person teams performed the simulation with goals to protect friendly assets, eliminate enemy aircraft, and conduct refueling operations. The joint availability of chat and the whiteboard increased the total number of team communications, but reduced team reliance on radio. Access to a graphical resource display decreased team communications and radio reliance. A content analysis indicated that access to chat and the whiteboard, and to the graphical resource display, allowed teams to communicate more effectively. Overall, these results support the utility of advanced collaboration technologies for enhancing team communication in military settings