Tactical Telehaptic Communication (HAPTAC)

Combat environments can subject personnel to extreme conditions, testing the limits of both their physical and cognitive abilities. The sense of touch offers a relatively untapped channel for communications on the battlefield, and tactile displays can be an effective communication modality even under situations of high user stress and where conventional communication channels are compromised. This proposal leverages off EAI’s prior work in tactile display technology, and addresses the development of a HAPTAC system comprising a tactile display (an array of body-referenced vibratory transducers), communications link (secure radio) and an innovative human interface. We propose to extend tactile message display capabilities, increase the communication bandwidth and address methods for increasing the message recognition and error handling. Our overall goal is to provide an intelligent tactile communications and display system for communication of tactical information between soldiers at the squad level.