Sustained Operations (SUSOPS) experiments at DCIEM test how the cognitive abilities of subjects are affected by stresses such as sleep-deprivation. In the past the experiments were carried out using a VAX mainframe computer, which meant that the experiments were confined to the lab. NTT Systems developed PenSUSOPS, moving the experimental tasks to a MicroSlate portable computer with a pen-based interface. This meant that Susops trials could be carried out in the field (for instance, on a ship at sea). The system was written in Visual Basic.
PenSUSOPS also saw the addition of some new tools for running SUSOPS experiments, including a scheduler. So if the experimenter decides the subject should perform a mental arithmetic task, followed by two sets of logic tasks, with a break in between, then this schedule is entered and when the experiment is run, the subject is automatically confronted with the appropriate sequence of tasks. Following is a screen-shot from the schedule editor:
Some new tasks were added with PenSUSOPS. One is a questionnaire, so the subject can be presented with a series of questions to answer. It has a flexible editor to create and edit questions. Below are two windows from the editor, one for editing the question text, and another for specifying the choices the person has to choose from in answering the question (e.g., a scale from 1-5).
PenSUSOPS has been used by different organizations in a number of environments. A distribution facility has been added to the system that can be used to automatically package the software and experiments on one computer and set it up again on another. This automated approach ensures that the distributed system contains all of the components needed to author and run experiments.