Design and Evaluation of Augmented Reality and VR-Based Task Simulators

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This proposal is part of an overarching research program on the design and evaluation of 3D visualization techniques for task-based training simulators. We will be exploring novel methods for the development and evaluation of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality based Simulators. The Engineering Design process that we follow is classical: The requirements elicitation stage is used to develop a formal hierarchical task representation for the user's interaction with the simulator. We refine this analysis down to the level sub-tasks in terms of low-level user interactions: movements in space, and interactions with entities in the workspace. This allows us to specify quantitative user performance metrics in terms of the speed and accuracy of those interactions. The task analysis is important for two reasons: First, these interaction behaviours can be represented using UML Harel Statecharts, which are implementation-independent representations that can be adapted using standard patterns on a variety of platforms. This approach allows us to formalize the requirements of the main software classes in the simulator systems, in terms of the input-output requirements for the View classes, the Controller Classes, and those of the Model (Software Engineering's MVC paradigm). Secondly, it allows us to examine the task requirements from an information-processing standpoint, in terms of graphical display outputs, and user interface input events. While Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality provide compelling immersive environments, a number of challenges remain, which we plan to address as the empirical research in this proposed program. The experience of immersive interaction in a mixed-reality environment comes to us through the rich capacities of the human perceptual, motor, and the cognitive system - yet the constraints that are inherent in these human capacities are not well understood. There are a number of perceptual issues that arise in these immersive environments, and these issues for the basis for the empirical work that is outlined in this proposal. Our approach thereby stresses the development of systematic user-centred evaluation methodologies, using paradigms adapted from pure Science-based research in human perception, cognition, and action. In other words, we consider the design of task-based simulators to be an enterprise within the Software Engineering domain of Human-Computer Interface Design. The goals of the research projects undertaken by HQP will be to develop and evaluate modules that extend from current simulators, through the development of GPU-based algorithms for 3D interactive computer graphics in Augmented and Virtual Reality, and for their quantitative evaluation.