Virtual Reality for Improved Situation Awareness for Electronic Surve illance Operators : Implementing and comparing a virtual reality interface and its interactions with a traditional 2D interface

Abstract: Electronic surveillance operators are a vital part of electronic warfare. Included in their field of responsibility is the analysis of, the assessment of, and the actions on potential threats. A vital component of these is an operator’s situation awareness. It governs to what degree of confidence and accuracy these aspects can be determined. An interface of an electronic surveillance operator must therefor be designed to provide and improve situation awareness. A technology that is hypothesized to improve situation awareness is virtual reality. Through its head-mounted display and handheld controllers it is aimed to create immersion and generate natural interactions. Information can be closely explored through new perspectives and the entire body can be used to interact with interfaces. These aspects and the additional dimension provided by virtual reality are the factors expected to improve situation awareness. The aim of this study is to explore the effects for situation awareness with a 3D interface in virtual reality compared to a traditional 2D interface for electronic surveillance operators. A user-centric approach was selected to evaluate how an existing 2D interface for electronic surveillance operators compares to a novel 3D interface in virtual reality. The existing interface is provided by Saab AB, and the 3D interface is developed for this particular case. Furthermore, a wrist-mounted menu and a stationary dashboard menu were implemented in virtual reality to support minimal implementation bias and for further discussion on interactions in virtual reality. The results indicate improved situation awareness in the virtual reality 3D interface. This is complemented by users’ reflections to generate a discussion for design guidelines, whether traditional interfaces may be replaced by virtual reality interfaces, and what effects virtual reality has on situation awareness.