Next-Generation Human Systems Integration Framework and Toolset Prototype

The Department of Defense (DoD) requires a transformative approach to Human Systems Integration (HSI) across multi-domain weapons, command-and-control (C2), and autonomous systems. Traditional HSI practices remain siloed, document-centric, and misaligned with rapid modern software delivery (DevSecOps) and modular open systems architecture (MOSA).
This Challenge invites industry, academic, and commercial partners to prototype and demonstrate an Agile, Telemetry-Driven, and Digital Engineering-Integrated HSI Framework. The objective is to replace retrospective human factors compliance reviews with continuous, quantitative, and predictive human-agent teaming assessments from early design through operational deployment.
The resulting framework should provide a common, quantitative, and repeatable approach to modeling human capabilities and measuring their impact on mission outcomes. By treating the human operator as a critical system component, the framework will enable evidence-based decisions across system design, acquisition, and operational training. Secondary to the expected level of operational impact, resulting framework will require Verification, Validation, and Analysis (VV\&A) processes and receive Operational Test certification and fielding recommendation.
## Problem Statement
Traditional defense acquisition treats HSI as a sequential stage-gate requirement governed by static standards (e.g., MIL-STD-1472, MIL-HDBK-46855). This model fails when applied to fast-paced modern capabilities, including:
1.      **Human-Machine & Human-AI Teaming (HMT/HAT):** Autonomous agents and AI decision-support tools dynamically shift workload, creating risks of cognitive overload, automation complacency, or catastrophic mistrust during contested operations.
2.      **Lagging Feedback Loops:** Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) assessments traditionally occur late in system development using physical mockups, making ergonomics, interface redesigns, and cognitive fixes cost-prohibitive.
3.      **Decoupling from Digital Engineering:** While hardware and software development utilize Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and digital twins, human physical and cognitive dynamics are rarely modeled in digital threads.
4.      **Talent & Training Disconnect:** Systems fielded with poor usability require excessive operator training, inflight remediation, and increased personnel footprints, directly impacting operational readiness.
## Overall Objective
To field a modular, scalable prototype that embeds continuous, real-time HSI evaluation into the digital engineering lifecycle, dramatically reducing fielding timelines while maximizing operator survivability, decision velocity, and cognitive endurance.