NATURAL OPERATOR INPUT TECHNIQUES FOR UNDERSEA SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS

THE NAVY HAS A CONTINUING NEED FOR IMPROVED COMPUTER-INTERFACE DESIGNS THAT SIMPLIFY OPERATOR TASKS AND REDUCE TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPORTING THE OPERATION OF ADVANCED COMPUTER-BASED DISPLAY SYSTEMS. RECENTLY, PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN NON-MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF TOUCH SENSITIVITY SCREENS AND DIGITAL GRAPHICS TABLET SYSTEMS. SUCH SYSTEMS OPTIMIZE THE USE OF NATURAL OPERATOR GESTURES AND WRITING SKILLS TO ENTER INFORMATION INTO AND CONTROL COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEMS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP APPLICATIONS FOR OPERATOR-MACHINE INPUT DEVICES SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO SIMPLIFY TASKS AND REDUCE THE TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE OPERATION OF COMPLEX UNDERSEA SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM EQUIPMENT. UNDER THE FIRST TASK, A TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT OF GRAPHICS TABLET AND TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS WILL BE CONDUCTED. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY DESIGN OF OPERATOR INPUT TECHNIQUES THAT EXPLOIT THESE STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES FOR MANIPULATION OF COMPUTER SYSTEM COMMANDS, MANUAL ANNOTATION OF LOFAR GRAMS, AND MANUAL IDENTIFICATION OF SIGNATURE FEATURES. UNDER THE THIRD AND FINAL TASK, ORINCON WILL DEMONSTRATE AND EVALUATE THE UTILITY OF THESE INPUT DEVICES AND TECHNIQUES.