Human factor Engineering, LLC

System Requirements Analysis
Identifies user characteristics around which the User Interface design must be tailored and devises a user-centered model of workflow as it is currently performed.

Software Requirements Analysis
Establishes both qualitative and quantitative usability goals that will drive User Interface design and usability testing as software acceptance criteria.

Software Detailed Design
This activity requires expansion at the three design levels of the Usability Engineering Life Cycle: Level I - Design of a Conceptual Model of the intended User Interface. Level II - Design of Screen Design Standards for the intended User Interface. Level III - Detailed User Interface Design. Each level requires evaluation of each of the Conceptual Model, Screen Design Standards, and Detailed User Interface Design.

Attentive User Interface Design & Development
Designs and develops application's interface that makes use of eye tracking as an application control modality. Applications make use of Attentive Interfaces by adapting their behavior based on the visual attention of the user.

Human Factors Engineering (Software)
User Interface Design
System Test & Evaluation Design
Contract and Proposal Authoring
Modeling & Simulation (Agent Based, Network, Military Operations)

The quantitative metrics of number and duration of fixations are applied at each evaluation stage to evaluate the software in terms of general usability criteria, e.g., attractiveness, operability, learnability and understandability. Eye Movement indicators provide insight into system failures or anomalies that are attributed to operational causes rather than to hardware or software discrepancies. Eye movements provide a measure of the operational process (vs. operational performance) and identify where system usability could be improved. For example, a recurring operator error may be caused by an error in an operations manual, difficulty reading a display, or inadequate training, all of which can be fixed after the problem is identified. Scanpath, hot spot, or visual area coverage plots characterize the user interface components in terms of its “visual complexity”, potentially posing usability problems.

Scanpaths, sometimes referred to as sequential indices of eye movements, represent a series of eye fixation coordinates over time. A series contains actual values of human visual data. Each value in the series is reported for a specific point in time. Values are plotted as points on the interface, and the values are connected with lines to show sequential progress of fixations over time. For example, a scanpath may show the users’ eye movements as the user viewed and/or interacted with an application appearing on a computer display. At the time, the display may have projected a static image, a web page, or an arbitrary application running on the desktop. This visualization contains the following eye movement metrics: number of fixations, relative fixation durations, interfixation distances, and direction of eye movements. Fixations can be seen falling on the main parts of the web page. Relative duration of fixations is represented by the size of fixation “raindrops”. The larger the raindrop, the longer the user dwelled on that section of the display. The scanpath may show the user’s lack of attention to menu buttons suggesting lack of knowledge of their existence, their meaning, or their utility.

Hotspots, related to scanpaths, are an aggregate form of eye movement visualization, showing the spatial distribution of fixations of an individual or a group of users. The distribution may show lack of attention devoted to several areas of the display.

Visual area coverage, is another form of eye movement visualization, indicating portions of the interface covered by the user’s eye movements. This type of visualization may expose regions of the interface not typically seen by the user(s).

Visual Attention
Combined with other usability indicators, user dissatisfaction with operation of a User Interface may be explained.

User Interface Visual Layout
Generated by aggregate eye movement representations, visual area coverage shows which UI components were seen or missed by the user. Graphical representations such as scanpaths, hot spots, or area coverage provide insight into what the user was attending to, or conversely, unattended (and hence underutilized) are identified.

Cognitive Load
Scanpaths, hot spots, or area coverage (e.g., number of fixations, fixation durations, direction of fixations, etc.), provide quantitative data to estimate the user’s operational efficiency. For example, significant dwell time over specific UI components suggest difficulty in understandability. Similarly, exceedingly long fixations over such components may indicate problems for operability and learnability. Comparison of eye movements between users (novice and expert) provides powerful statistics in identification of visually and hence mentally demanding components.

HfE, LLC Contracts
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, SC N65236-09-D-6057
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, SC N65236-08-P-4128
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, SC N65236-08-P-4259
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, SC N65236-08-P-4153
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, SC N65236-08-P-4422

HfE, LLC Subcontract Relationships:
Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Ga. (N65236-05-D-6854) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed fee, performance based contract for integrated systems engineering support services to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston to provide system engineering, software integration, configuration management, test, fleet introduction, product improvement, quality assurance, and life cycle management support for various C4ISR requirements, programs and projects.