College of Engineering and Computing
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Browsing College of Engineering and Computing by Author "Braswell, Kenneth"
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Item Evaluation of Geospatial Digital Support Products(2010-04-20T14:50:40Z) Powell, Walter A.; Laskey, Kathryn Blackmond; Adelman, Leonard; Johnson, Ryan; Dorgan, Shiloh; Hieb, Micheal; Braswell, Kenneth; Powers, MichaelGeospatial Reasoning has been an essential aspect of military planning since the invention of cartography. Geospatial Digital Support Products (GDSPs) are ubiquitous within current military forces as well as civil and humanitarian organizations. Nevertheless, there is too little empirical evidence to quantify the military value of geospatial products to the warfighter. We conducted a hypothesis-driven experiment to evaluate the military value of the Battlefield Terrain Reasoning and Awareness – Battle Command (BTRA-BC) GDSP. Realistic scenarios and appropriate measures to assess performance were developed in collaboration with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The measures included time to completion, objectively assessed solution quality, subjectively assessed solution quality, and terrain understanding. BTRA-BC was integrated into the Army’s Digital Topographic Support System (DTSS). A within-subjects design was employed, in which the participants completed scenarios using DTSS with and without BTRA-BC functionality. Statistical analysis of the data indicated that when the participants used BTRA-BC functionality, they created outputs faster and of higher quality without reducing their knowledge of the impact of the terrain on military decision-making. This paper discusses the scope of the current experiment, the hypotheses, the experimental design, and the results.Item Evaluation of High Resolution Imagery and Elevation Data(Proceeding of 14th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, 2009-06) Powell, Walter A.; Laskey, Kathryn Blackmond; Adelman, Leonard; Johnson, Ryan; Altenau, Michael; Goldstein, Andrew; Visone, Daniel; Braswell, KennethHow does the underlying data affect the ability of warfighters to derive useful information and make decisions? The Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) and GMU endeavor to shed light on this question with the third in TEC’s series of value experiments. The fundamental objective of the series is to improve TEC’s support of military personnel in the field through better geospatial products. The third experiment in the series goes in a different direction from the previous two experiments, which were presented at the 12th and 13th ICCRTS. Whereas previous experiments assessed the value of cutting-edge geospatial tools while keeping the data constant, the present experiment evaluated the effect of higher resolution imagery and elevation data while keeping the tools constant. The high resolution data under evaluation was generated from TEC’s Buckeye system, an operational airborne surveillance system. This paper discusses the scope of the third experiment, its hypotheses, its experimental design, and initial results.