Improving situational awareness on submarines using augmented reality

Abstract

Modern submarines are complex machines operating in a harsh environment. Although technology has been rapidly introduced in the submarine fleet, submariners must process more information due to increases in sensor capability and information available for decision-making. Unfortunately, improvements in the human-systems interfaces have not kept up with the new technology. Incidents involving human error are still occurring at an unacceptable rate in the modern fleet. This thesis addresses the deficiency in display information that occurs for the key decision maker in control, the Officer of the Deck. The results from a cognitive task analysis (CTA) provide insights on the information flow and display uses for the critical periscope depth procedure. This thesis also identifies the Level of SA associated with each step of the CTA. An analysis of the data from the CTA provides the deficiencies of the current system and suggests that the breakdown of SA occurs at Level 2. Through subject observations and personal experience, the author details the required information necessary for the OOD to make prompt decisions in control. This thesis attempts to provide an answer to the information display problem by introducing the emerging technology of augmented reality as a candidate solution.