Task analysis at military operation in urban terrain

The purpose with the study was to conduct a task analysis to clarify the needs of information to make good decisions in the MOUT situation. The needs are investigated at different levels, from the group (6 soldiers) to company level (about 100 soldiers). To conduct the task analysis CoMap was used (Cognitive Map, a research tool to investigate decision making developed at FOI MSI) including PDA´s. Of secondary interest was to investigate decision making in the MOUT situation when adding new technology with additional information. The results from the task analysis showed clearly that there are several needs to fill in the MOUT situation. One important need was to be able to make fast decisions, since the MOUT situation often consist of complex and fast situations which momentarily can chance. In the traditional command situation decisions often take time since it must be processed through the change of command. In MOUT, the situation then has likely chanced and another decision might be more appropriate. Areas for future research is; resolution of maps for different commanders, quality and reliability when presenting data and also presentation of temporal aspects. Another important area of interest is the use of 2D and 3D presentation, where some work has been conducted, but more needs to be done.