System for Information and Meta-information Portrayal of Lessons-learned (SIMPL)

A key challenge for net-centric warfare in the age of information is: How do we know that our actions are having the desired effects? This deceptively simple question often goes unanswered despite the increasingly massive amounts of information available. In the Air and Space Operations Center (AOC), the Operational Assessment Team is responsible for answering this question for the Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC). One method for conveying the right information in a timely manner to answer this question is to use meta-information to appropriately qualify and characterize the information needed to make an assessment of mission performance. Aptima proposes to develop the System for Information and Meta-information Portrayal of Lessons-learned (SIMPL) to enable faster, more effective operational assessment and decision-making. The keys to our proposed effort are: (1) defining the taxonomy of information and meta-information required for Operational Assessment; (2) designing visualizations to enable Operational Assessment; and (3) evaluating the efficacy of the visualization designs to convey actionable information in a timely manner for Operational Assessment in real-world and training environments. The Phase I efforts will include the initial design, development, and evaluation of SIMPL, which we will fully develop and evaluate in Phase II.