Multisensory Navigation and Communications System

Combat environments can subject personnel to extreme conditions, testing the limits of both their physical and cognitive abilities. During the Phase I SBIR, EAI designed and demonstrated a proof-of-concept system that enables investigation of multisensory navigation and communication among dismounted soldiers. The prototype Active Tactile Array Cueing Navigation and Communication (ATAC-NavCom) system provides GPS derived tactile navigation cues integrated with a prototype mobile visual map display. The design framework facilitated demonstration of intuitive tactile symbology on a wearable, scalable Hybrid Tactile Array (HTA) for navigation, situational awareness and communication tasks. The Phase II objective is to refine and enhance the system and implement a networked, multi-user multisensory navigation and communication system for evaluation and optimization in a realistic military environment. The resulting system has the potential to greatly improve the dismounted warfighters individual and team performance, and survivability, by improving situational awareness and communication in the combat environment.