Evaluation of Symbol Sets for Naval Tactical Displays

Abstract

The four experiments reported in this paper were conducted in support of the COMmand Decision Aiding Technology (COMDAT) (11bg) Technology Demonstrator Project (TDP) and the Halifax Class Modernization Command and Control System (HMCCS) programme. The first experiment assessed the relative visibility of the basic Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) and MIL-STD-2525B (2525B) tactical symbols. Performance with the colour-coded versions of the two symbol sets was not significantly different. However, the air and subsurface symbols were less discriminable than the surface symbols. Recommendations for improving the discrimination of the different warfare area symbols are included. One potential advantage of the 2525B symbols is the possibility of adding additional information about the track platform to the basic symbol shape. The remaining experiments assessed the visibility of the basic symbols with iconic information added and the visibility of the icons themselves. Adding iconic information did not have a large effect on the efficiency with which the basic symbols were located except when the icon shape replaced the symbol shape. Performance in locating and recognizing individual icons depended on their complexity and their uniqueness. It was recommended that only a small number of highly discriminable icons be used at any one time. The use of icons without the symbol frame should be restricted to non tactical information and such icons should probably not be colour coded. Further research is required to determine how to implement these recommendations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA477198

Entities

People

  • Annalisa Minniti
  • Annie Li
  • Jennifer Jeon
  • Sharon M. Mcfadden

Organizations

  • HumanSystems Incorporated

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Human Systems Integration
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Naval Tactical Data System
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • Psychology
  • Security
  • Social Sciences
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Tactical Data Systems
  • Three Dimensional

Readers

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control