hasic research concerned with systems, system 

 development, and system measurement. 



As early as the late 1950s, the Army Research 

 Institute (ARI) had embarked on a then-new area 

 of research dealing with systems. At the heart of 

 these efforts was the recognition that results 

 based on research conducted in a static environ- 

 ment possess only limited utility concerning deci- 

 sions with impact on combat effectiveness. In a 

 report on image systems (I), an approach to sys- 

 tems research was conceptualized which consid- 

 ered such factors as the structure and function of 

 systems expressed in terms of Army needs. Of 

 particular interest was system assessment, which 

 considered such factors as subsystem versus total 

 system criteria; the concept of the simple systems 

 (or existing systems) as standards against which 

 to assess new, more sophisticated systems; and 

 the problem of system performance measurement 

 in terms of a multivariate, rather than a univar- 

 iate, criterion. The multivariate criterion is signifi- 

 cant because it permits trade-offs among the de- 

 pendent variables, as well as among the indepen- 

 dent variables. This is particularly important to 

 decisionmakers who must choose a system alter- 

 native, since the output dimensions could influ- 

 ence discussions about system configurations and 

 procedures. 



Upon recognition of the complexity of systems 

 research, considerable basic research effort was 

 expended to develop further the concepts of sys- 

 tems research (2,3,4) and simultaneously to devel- 

 op the supporting tools for such research, includ- 

 ing both methodology and instrumentation. Thus, 

 considerable research was done on the develop- 

 ment of measurement systems such as the surveil- 

 lance systems measurement bed (5) technology 

 and field research instrumentation (6), and a 

 measurement setting for the assessment of small 

 unit effectiveness (7). These measurement beds 

 were designed to permit the assessment of sys- 

 tems, subsystems, or components within a context 

 simulating real-world conditions as much as possi- 

 ble to accommodate for the measurement of the 

 important interaction effects. The development of 

 these measurement beds imposed the need for a 

 proper sampling of the significant tasks and the 

 opportunity for the experimental subjects to exe- 

 cute the tasks in a realistic manner free from inap- 

 propriate intrusions such as those associated with 

 data collection. (The recording of data, if not a 

 normal part of the subject task, is an example of 

 such intrusions.) It is this focus of basic research 

 that led to the development of dynamic, realistic, 

 highly instrumented measurement beds which in 

 turn give rise to the development of REALTRAIN 

 and MILKS. REALTRAIN and MILES merely 

 reflect a translation of the realism and instrumenta- 



64 DEFENSE 



tion in test and evaluation to that of training and 

 thus are direct beneficiaries of the basic research 

 on system assessment. 



References: 



(1) Birnbiium. A. H.. TRN 122. Human Factors Research in 

 Image Systems Status Report, .^0 June 1962. 



(2) Uhlaner. J. E. et al.. TR S-1, Psychological Research in 

 National Defense Today, June l%7. 



O) Uhlaner. J. E.. TR S-2, Human Performance Jobs, Jobs, 

 and Systems Psychology — The Systems Measurement Bed, 

 October 1970. 



(4) Uhlaner. J. E.. TR S-3. Management Leadership in System 

 Measurement Beds. August 197.''. 



(5) Birnbaum. A. H.. el al., TRR-1160. Summary of BESRL 

 Surveillance Research, September 1969. 



(6) Hyman. A. et al., TRN 22.1, Human Performance Experi- 

 mentation in Night Operations: Technology and Instrumenta- 

 tion for Field Research. June 1970. 



(7) Sternberg. Jack. J., el al., TRN 237, Effects of STANO 

 Sensors on Small Unit Effectiveness-Part I, January 1972. 



Similarly, the Army has many interesting re- 

 search projects that are currently in progress. 

 Five such projects are listed below. 



Drug Development Program 



The drug development program is a multidisci- 

 plinary. intra- and extramural research effort co- 

 ordinated and managed by Walter Reed Army In- 

 stitute of Research. Rather than the usual empiri- 

 cal search for efficacious drugs, this program in- 

 cludes a computer-assisted rational search for 

 new drugs. Synthesis of candidate new drugs is 

 based on structural relationships with known 

 agents; efficacy is screened through several bio- 

 logical systems. Further studies on toxicology, 

 pharmacology, metabolism, and pharmacokinetics 

 are designed to lead in planned sequence to even- 

 tual clinical trials. This effort was originally di- 

 rected toward treatment of drug-resistant falcipa- 

 rum malaria, but its goals have recently been 

 broadened to begin the search for new drugs ef- 

 fective against other diseases of military import- 

 ance. 



Submillimeter Wave Research 



Relatively recent advances in the development 

 of sources and detectors have stimulated a parallel 

 interest within several Army laboratories in sub- 

 millimeter technology. Some of the recent scien- 

 tific advances have included research on the opti- 

 cally pumped far infrared laser, Schottky barrier 

 detection, and relativistic electron-beam genera- 

 tion of electromagnetic waves. At the same time. 



