Touch Panel Sampling Strategies and Keypad Performance Comparisons

Abstract

A study was conducted to improve accuracy of touch input devices to be used in helicopter evnironments through serial sampling and minima selection algorithms. Neither first nor last contact point was congruent with point of minimum error and sampling techniques were derived to reduce error without using “touch-mouse” strategies, being most effective for the infrared panel. Wearing flight gloves and using the nonpreferred hand had no practical detrimental effects on performance for a high-resolution touch input task. In a second study several types of mechanical keypads were compared with the two types of touch-input devices. Results obtained with this menu-selection task suggested no practical degradation in performance when substituting the touch input devices for bezel-mounted hardware keys. This was true of both error rate (in a qualified sense) and response time. It was concluded that the touch-input devices could provide flexibility for high-resolution input using maps and other spatial forms of data while allowing effective use of previously developed menus and menu-selection routines without the need for auxiliary bezel-mounted mechanical keys.