Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) Contextual Task Analysis and Observational Study

Abstract : This report documents the data collection effort that was conducted 15-30 January 2016 during National Training Center (NTC) rotation 16-03. The main objective of this observational study was to obtain context rich data for the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) as it was being employed by Fire Direction and Fire Support organizations within the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Human Systems Integration (HSI) observers from the Product Managers Office and the US Army Research Laboratory were provided access to Tactical Operations Centers, Fires and Effects Coordination Cells, and Fire Direction Centers where they observed natural task performance of fire direction and fire support coordination activities and message traffic on a noninterference basis. The data collection effort also included conducting semistructured interviews, and observing daily Hot Washes and After Action Reviews for each 72-h training event. The NTC 16-03 yielded a wealth of information to help the HSI team understand baseline performance with the AFATDS version 6.8.0.1 software. This information will be exploited to address user interface issues and potential mitigations, as well as to identify opportunities for task automation and preprocessing error-checking to inform the development of AFATDS version 7.0 software.