Automated After Action Review: State-of-the-Art Review and Trends

Military training relies upon the after-action review (AAR) to provide feedback and instruction to the trainee. After-action review can refer to any number of activities including verbal feedback, review of audio and video recording, and playback of the training session. Training can be directed at an individual or group of individuals. The effectiveness of the review is dependent upon timely and accurate expert assessment. Traditionally, this assessment is made by a human expert; however, the need for this type of expertise far exceeds its availability. Modern intelligent computer systems cannot completely replace human expertise, but there are certainly places where an intelligent system can aid and add to the after-action review process. This paper examines the current state of the research and development in this area. In addition, some recent research in intelligent systems is reviewed for the possibility of use in the automation of military AAR.