Comparing an augmented reality navigation display to an electronic map for military reconnaissance

Abstract

The next generation of displays for soldiers may include augmented reality capabilities. One such display, called Mirror in the Sky (MitS), presents survey information in the upper visual field. Using a virtual reality simulation of a military reconnaissance scenario, we compared a MitS prototype to a familiar electronic 2D north-up map. Participants (24 soldiers) were told to follow a prescribed route, detect potential threats, and reroute around them. They also performed a secondary task as a measure of mental workload. At the end of the route, the soldiers were asked to recall the locations of threats and route changes. Participants made better reroute decisions with the north-up map than with MitS, although no differences were observed for threat detection or mental workload. They also scored higher on recall with the north-up map than with MitS.

Practitioner Summary: An augmented reality navigation aid was compared to an electronic north-up map in a military reconnaissance scenario, in a virtual reality simulation. Participants made better route decisions and had better recall with the north-up map, but no mental workload differences were found between displays.

Keywords:

• Navigation
• augmented reality
• virtual environments
• workload
• military

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues at Uncharted Software, including Tom Kapler, Dario Segura, Glenn Tsang, and Robert King, for conceptual origin and development support for MitS. We thank Jean Dumas and Elaine Maceda from DRDC, and Dorothy Wojtarowicz and Eric Kramkowski from QTAC, for help with logistics and participant recruitment. We also thank Brandi Drisdelle and Amour Simal from the University of Montreal for assistance during the pilot study. Finally, we thank Paul Milgram and Sabah Boustila for their suggestions and comments.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [503607] under the DND/NSERC Research Partnership Programme, and Ontario Centres of Excellence [27560].