The Use of Tactile Navigation Displays for the Reduction of Disorientation in Maritime Environments
Abstract
The maritime environment can be difficult to navigate in, due to poor visual cues, leading to disorientation and the potential for operational failure. The sense of touch is often overlooked as a mode of information display, but is ideally suited to providing intuitive navigation cues. Tactile cues provide a potential method to overcome these visual limitations and provide an alternative mode of displaying information from the more common visual and audio mediums. The QinetiQ Centre for Human Sciences have developed a Navigation Tactile Interface System (NTIS) that displays navigation cues through the highly intuitive sense of touch. This has been demonstrated in high-speed boats by the setting of the blind world water speed record with the use of the QinetiQ NTIS, and underwater by the US NAMRL Tactile Situation Awareness System which allowed divers to successfully complete a navigation exercises using only tactile cues. Therefore, tactile navigation displays have the potential to reduce disorientation in maritime environments and improve operational performance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADP013875
Entities
People
- Shaun Samways
- Trevor Dobbins