Automated Usability Testing Research - Part 2

MITRE is planning for and incorporate the latest technology approaches and solutions to defend the Air Force against cyber security threats. UTSA has prioritized cyber security education and research as a major initiative. This SOW leverages MITRE's FFRDC expertise with UTSA's capabilities in cyber
 security and software development.The need to rapidly develop. test and deploy software applications has driven developers to employ agilemethodologies for cyber security systems. Part of the evolution of the software requirements (or features) results from feedback provided periodically by end users. Providing user feedback early and often in the design and development lifecycle can result in a more usable product. In the user-centered design scenario. user feedback
 drives design rather than the user waiting to critique the finished product. The result is a more usable product that meets customer expectations with minimal redesign at the end.A critical aspect of agile software development is to automate testing. so that small pieces of code can be tested
 quickly. frequently and without human intervention. If portions of code are developed and tested daily. it is necessary to ensure that all aspects of testing are completed before the new code is added to the baseline. If the new code involves any user interface development. or changes to the workflow for the operator. then those changes need to be tested for usability. Generally. usability testing would include bringing an operator or Human Factor Engineer to the test environment and having them interact with the software and evaluate the usability of the product. Due to the time required to conduct these evaluations by an HFE or end user. it is not feasible to conduct these tests as part of the continuous testing process employed with agile development.Therefore. it is desirable to find a method for automating some parts of usability testing so that these tests are done continuously along with functional and integration testing. Automating usability testing will allow many usability issues to be found early and corrected through the regular processes in agile.The proposed research will expand upon the work to develop and implement an automated usability tool to be
 used on code during development or on existing software applications intended to operate in a cyber security environment. This effort will look at human neurophysiological responses to usability. UTSA will perform this work in accordance with the Task Descriptions in Section II.