Demonstration of the Subjective Transfer Function Approach Applied to Air-Force-Wide Mission Area Analysis

This Note describes an application of the subjective transfer function (STF) approach to complex system analysis to an Air Force-Wide Mission Area Analysis (AFWMAA) problem domain. Following a short description of the background that led up to the research and an overview of the STF approach, the authors discuss how the STF approach was applied to the AFWMAA problem domain of immediate targeting for battlefield air interdiction in the tactical command and control mission area. That section includes the hypothesized structure of the problem domain; how the judgment data were gathered; the judgment models entertained as STFs to explain how the components comprising the structure affect judged outcomes; how the data were analyzed to provide information about the appropriateness of the hypothesized structure and the appropriate STFs for functionally linking the components of the structure; and how resulting STFs would be used to assess the capabilities of alternative command and control systems. Finally, the significant features of the STF approach are described and a brief summary is presented.