Maritime Head-Up Display: A Preliminary Evaluation

Abstract

A major disadvantage of nearly every marine electronic navigation device introduced to date is the necessity for the navigator to turn his or her attention away from the view outside the bridge windows, even momentarily. Indeed, the uncomfortable feeling experienced by seasoned mariners that this ‘head down’ posture creates has led many to be initially reluctant to adopt some marine electronic devices (radar, ARPA, ECDIS, to name a few) that have proven their worth over time as useful, even vital navigational aids. Unfortunately, the use of such equipment has always required the marine navigator to leave behind the real world perspective view and enter an unnatural, two-dimensional plan view of the area surrounding the vessel. Mariners have accepted this type of view by necessity rather than by choice. That may be about to change. Advances in technology and a proven track record of performance benefits from Head-Up Display (or HUD) information in the aviation field have made it possible to consider if such a device would be useful in a maritime context. Accordingly, the authors of this paper conducted a preliminary evaluation to examine empirically what the effects of providing this same type of head-up information would be on marine navigation performance. A series of tests were conducted in the California Maritime Academy's advanced simulation facilities utilizing a full-mission simulator, a laptop-based HUD prototype, a projector, and student participants from an experimental undergraduate course entitled e-Navigation. The goals were to: 1) define the operational requirements and concept of operations for a maritime HUD system; 2) identify essential information, risks, and concerns; and 3) examine performance variations by conditions (environmental, vessel, crew) and tasks. The results indicate great potential for a maritime HUD system, especially for improving situational awareness in low visibility conditions, confined waters, and for vessels where information changes rapidly (i.e., high speed vessels). The results also suggest that there are some standard information requirements across situations that could be augmented with task and vessel specific information.