The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to use new bio-based tools to predict and optimize team performance that will further the capabilities of teams operating within the Department of Defense (DoD).
The Objective Prediction of Team Effectiveness via Models of Performance Outcomes (OP TEMPO) program will enable DoD teams to further their performance by measuring biological indications such as heart rate variability and communication dynamics that can then be correlated with team performance outcomes.
“Without methods to objectively assess team training performance, we are unable to measure current training efficacy, diagnose performance breakdowns, or determine whether future training adaptations are effective,” said Dr. Joeanna Arthur, OP TEMPO program manager at DARPA.
“OP TEMPO seeks to overcome these challenges by using biological signatures to predict and optimize team performance,” added Arthur.
The program – created over two and a half years ago – will be used to measure performance for a myriad of DoD teams, including tactical squads, squadron-level air crews, cyber defense teams, and medical teams.
One of the goals of the program is to move away from subjective evaluation methods that can produce imprecise data. Currently, there are “no objective, quantitative measures of team performance or training effectiveness have been established or validated, and no objective tools exist to improve the training itself or to predict performance in DOD teams,” stated DARPA.
“DOD teams are not simply the sum of their collective parts, but have highly specialized and dynamic roles, and performance relies on collaboration, communication, and coordination,” added Arthur. “With OP TEMPO, we aim to solve the problem of ‘how do we turn a team of experts into an expert team?”
