Operator-Adjustable Frame Rate, Resolution, and Gray Scale Tradeoff in Fixed-Bandwidth Remote Manipulator Control

摘要

The increasing risk and expense of deep ocean submersible operation has stimulated interest in controlling unmanned, untethered, remotely controlled teleoperators through acoustic links. The low bandwidth acoustic channel poses a problems in video communication which normally requires a wide bandwidth. Transmission rate in video communication depends on three factors: frame rate, resolution, and gray scale. If the operator of the submersible's manipulator must use a degraded picture for viewing, it may be useful to be able to tradeoff between frame rate, resolution, and gray scale as the requirements of the task change. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if such a system would actually improve operator performance compared to a system in which the combination was set. Experiments were run in which four subjects performed manipulative tasks with a master-slave manipulator under a variety of task requirements, bit rates, and video control modes. The results showed that control of the frame rate, resolution, and gray scale combination was a statistically significant factor in improving operator performance. (Author)