A Literature Review of Conceptual Modeling for Human Systems Integration in Manned‐Unmanned Systems

ABSTRACT This literature review investigates conceptual modeling used in the development of autonomous manned‐unmanned systems, with a focus on Human Systems Integration. Product development teams creating such cyber‐physical systems are struggling to discuss and rationalize the systems before they are made. Conceptual modeling approaches are used to help tackle such challenges. A mixed methods literature review includes 32 articles, primarily drawn from the aerospace and defense, transportation, and maritime sectors. These articles present a mixed representation of case studies, laboratory research, and theoretical work. The analysis maps 124 conceptual models based on their levels of abstraction and formality levels, identifies 92 analytical approaches, and examines 62 instances of data, information, and knowledge inputs. The findings indicate that functional flow and block diagrams are the most used types of models among product development teams. In contrast, frequently used informal types of models are contextual and illustrative models such as context diagrams, visual aids, and visual ConOps. Task and workload analysis, along with human reasoning, are the two most frequently used analytical approaches. The review highlights that a significant amount of data, information, and knowledge from technical systems and human factors is used as input, while there is a lack of a system‐of‐systems contextual perspective.