Abstract

Materiel acquisition for The Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) is made by The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk) and is a rigorous and expensive process. The incentives to produce adequate material for the users are high, but how is the process of producing adequate material for the users best achieved? The outcome of these processes is to some extent judged by the satisfaction of the users. So wouldn’t it be advantageous to include them in the process? By using theories of USCE (User centred systems engineering) and PD (Participatory Design) the purpose of this thesis is to examine future users expressed needs of technical sensors, for a high-speed artillery vessel with an integrated grenade launcher. The thesis also examines how theories and methods of USCE and PD can be applied to find out user needs in specific defined contexts. The study does so by using a series of scenarios presented in text and graphically. The interviewed users were asked to express their needs in relation to specific situations and threats in the scenario. The users’ expressed needs are later translated into a set of possible technical sensors for self-defence of the high-speed artillery vessel. The core idea of USCE is designing with the user in consideration. The core idea of PD is to design with the user, enabling for more valid information to be extracted and put into design. In this case it was done by presenting nine scenarios, where the respondents were asked what they wanted to know and what they wanted to do. In addition to answering questions, they were also encouraged to draw graphic information on the illustrations of the scenario material. This was done to enable transfer of additional knowledge and information from the respondents. The analysis suggests a combination of technical sensors that was found to correspond to the expressed user needs. It was also found that USCE and PD can be used to better identify user needs. However, the methods and activities for doing so can benefit from further studies. The presented combination of technical sensors for self-defence might reflect the expressed needs of users, it is however not necessarily the best solution for this high-speed artillery vessel. The best solution also needs to account for factors like budget and the role of the high-speed artillery vessel in a larger context. The presented sensor solution could be further validated if tested together with potential users. The result of this study might however contribute to more substantiated decisions for the final design of the artillery platform, as well as showing the importance of involving users and carefully chosen activities for doing so.