Evaluating Human Operator Performance in a Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Environment.

摘要

The Virtual Reality Applications Center is a national leader in the increasingly important field of applications of virtual reality to the challenges of engineering and science. This DURIP contract provided peripheral equipment for VRAC's C6, a 360-degree immersion device used to display synthetic environments in real time. C6 includes six stereoscopic screens, a three- dimensional sound system, and wireless technologies. C6, which cost over $5 million to design and build, was made possible by support from the Air Force of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, Iowa State University and private industry. DURIP funds helped purchase a tracking system, networking hardware, and storage devices crucial to the operation of the system. We are now using the C6 on two major defense related projects applying virtual reality interfaces to improve operational readiness and situational awareness. The first of these projects, sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab's Human Effectiveness Directorate, is investigating the use of collaborative computer immersion to recreate a Joint Battlespace. The second is a multi-year collaboration between a VRAC research team, the Iowa National Guard, and the Iowa Technology Center. The objective of this effort is to investigate, create and evaluate the use of immersive interfaces as tools to improve the operational readiness of Iowa National Guard staff, both Army and Air.