Situation Awareness in Human‐Machine Systems

Situation Awareness (SA) is defined as the perception of the elements from the environment, the understanding of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future. In the context of complex and dynamic operational environments, acquiring and maintaining appropriate levels of SA is critical for making correct and timely decisions and achieving high performance. This requires the design of effective human-machine systems able to support human SA, by leveraging computational methods and techniques for situation modeling, identification, prediction, reasoning, and control. This chapter offers an overview of models, methods, and techniques of SA in the context of human-machine systems, ranging from the foundations of the Endsley model to the recent advancements in the field, outlining current issues and future research directions.