RTO-TR-HFM-121-Part-II - FTP Directory Listing - NATO

Virtual Environments for Intuitive
Human-System Interaction
(RTO-TR-HFM-121-Part-II)
Executive Summary
At the present time the alliance is placing new performance requirements on military personnel which is
driving a need for new approaches to training and equipment design. Innovative computer technologies
have the potential to prepare militaries for their missions. Preparation for these challenges has to include
both training military commanders, staffs and operators by means of appropriate media and developing
equipment that has a well thought out integrated human-machine design that reduces personnel
requirements, operator workload and reduces training time.
The new computer-generated media of Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Environments (AMVE) can provide
realistic training and natural human-system interaction (HSI) using complex realistic or abstract synthetic
environments. AMVE technologies allow trainees and human operators to experience synthetic environment
that are appropriate for the tasks to be performed. An extensive review of the national activities in member
nations revealed that AMVE technologies have become much more useful for a variety of military
application areas than they were a few years ago. VE applications have many demonstrated success stories in
military education and training. They show that VE can be useful, and sometimes necessary to achieve the
training objectives. But still AMVE cannot be considered an intuitive technology.
This report reviews a number of human use and effectiveness issues as they relate to AMVE. Prior to
designing an AMVE application a detailed analysis has to be performed in order to identify the
applicability of AMVE-technology to represent complex processes or tasks. This analysis has to address
human factors issues on a number of different levels in order to make optimal use of the capabilities of the
new technology. For the design of a new AMVE-system it is important to consider relevant human
information processing resources and capabilities on a perceptual level. User feelings of presence or
immersion also affect perceptions and ultimately the effectiveness of the system. Other factors that affect
performance include workload, especially mental workload and simulator sickness. Methods and measures
for determining and quantifying simulator sickness caused by AMVE-technology are described and
discussed. Attaining situational awareness is another complex construct that has become vitally important
for mission success. AMVE technologies can represent the complex nature of the battlefield and can be
used to provide the training and experiences needed to allow trainees to rapidly acquire situational
awareness. A final issue discussed is performance evaluation, the application of dependent measures and
team measures to evaluate success.
Detailed case studies were presented and discussed in a workshop (RWS-136 on Virtual Media for Military
Applications) in June, 2006. The main conclusions of the workshop are also included in this report.
Overall the RTG concluded that AMVE is applicable and has become practical in several areas.
Regardless there are still many questions that remain unanswered and the topic continues to require further
research. Military education and training have been identified as one of the main application areas. Recent
advances in computer and display technologies strongly miniaturize available systems while increasing
their performance and functionality. This opens new applications fields, especially embedding training and
mission rehearsal capabilities.
RTO-TR-HFM-121-Part-II ES - 1