Development of a Multi-Sensory Virtual Reality Training Simulator for Airborne Firefighters Supervising Aerial Wildfire Suppression

Clifford, Rory M.S.; Khan, Humayun; Hoermann, Simon; Billinghurst, Mark; Lindeman, Robert W.

doi:10.1109/var4good.2018.8576892

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Secondly, the use of AR leverages the trainees’ experiences to a wide variety of training scenarios. The firefighting area varies widely depending on the category and, as such, there is aerial support of wild firefighting [ 13 ], urban firefighting [ 14 ], and ship firefighting [ 15 ]. The aforementioned scenarios can be covered in an AR training process, giving the trainees the opportunity to repeat the training session and advance their skills in firefighting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring User Experience, Usability and Interactivity of a Personalized Mobile Augmented Reality Training System

Papakostas

Troussas

Krouska

et al. 2021

Sensors

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Innovative technology has been an important part of firefighting, as it advances firefighters’ safety and effectiveness. Prior research has examined the implementation of training systems using augmented reality (AR) in other domains, such as welding, aviation, army, and mathematics, offering significant pedagogical affordances. Nevertheless, firefighting training systems using AR are still an under-researched area. The increasing penetration of AR for training is the driving force behind this study, and the scope is to analyze the main aspects affecting the acceptance of AR by firefighters. The current research uses a technology acceptance model, extended by the external constructs of perceived interactivity and personalization, to consider both the system and individual level. The proposed model was evaluated by a sample of 200 users, and the results show that both the external variables of perceived interactivity and perceived personalization are prerequisite factors in extending the TAM model. The findings reveal that the usability is the strongest predictor of firefighters’ behavioral intentions to use the AR system, followed by the ease of use with smaller, yet meaningful, direct and indirect effects on firefighters’ intentions. The identified acceptance factors help AR developers enhance the firefighters’ experience in training operations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring User Experience, Usability and Interactivity of a Personalized Mobile Augmented Reality Training System

Papakostas

Troussas

Krouska

et al. 2021

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The viability of training commanders utilizing immersive VR technology was also demonstrated by Clifford et al in two studies (Clifford et al, 2018a;Clifford et al, 2018b). These studies complement the work carried out by Cohen-Hatton and Honey (2015), since the work environment and the nature of the measures were different while the overall question of the viability of a virtual environment for firefighter training remained the same.…”

Section: Commander Trainingmentioning

confidence: 69%

Human Factors Research in Immersive Virtual Reality Firefighter Training: A Systematic Review

Wheeler

Engelbrecht

Hoermann

2021

Front. Virtual Real.

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Immersive virtual reality (VR) shows a lot of potential for the training of professionals in the emergency response domain. Firefighters occupy a unique position among emergency personnel as the threats they encounter are mainly environmental. Immersive VR therefore represents a great opportunity to be utilized for firefighter training. This systematic review summarizes the existing literature of VR firefighting training that has a specific focus on human factors and learning outcomes, as opposed to literature that solely covers the system, or simulation, with little consideration given to its user. An extensive literature search followed by rigorous filtering of publications with narrowly defined criteria was performed to aggregate results from methodologically sound user studies. The included studies provide evidence that suggests the suitability of VR firefighter training, especially in search and rescue and commander training scenarios. Although the overall number of publications is small, the viability of VR as an ecologically valid analog to real-life training is promising. In the future, more work is needed to establish clear evidence and guidelines to optimize the effectiveness of VR training and to increase reliable data through appropriate research endeavors.

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“…Utilizing VR technology for training enables trainees to experience a wide variety of training scenarios in a single session. In the field of VR training for firefighting research efforts have been made to build systems simulating wildfire-fighting for ground troops (Hoang et al, 2010 ), wildfire-fighting for aerial support (Clifford et al, 2018b ), urban firefighting (Xu et al, 2014 ), and incident leadership (Cha et al, 2012 ). The environments being trained in vary widely depending on the job category of the firefighter and the incident being trained.…”

Section: Strengthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anthes et al ( 2016 ) describe the current state of VR developments as fast and promising , but list numerous problems that are still difficult to tackle, like user representation in HMDs, cybersickness, and distance perception in virtual environments. In a study by Clifford et al ( 2018b ) aerial firefighters were asked to state their preference after testing the same simulation on (1) a standard monitor, (2) using a VR HMD, or (3) using a simulation “pit” outfitted with three projected cockpit windows. Although preference was given to the HMD with regards to immersion, the issues with cybersickness experienced by trainees made them prefer the monitor.…”

Section: Weaknessesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the usage of VR for the training of firefighters has resulted in some promising findings for commander training (Cohen-Hatton and Honey, 2015 ), aerial attack coordination (Clifford et al, 2018b ), and urban firefighting (Bliss et al, 1997 ), there is still uncertainty whether the skills learned and trained in VR transfer to real situations.…”

Section: Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual Reality for Firefighter Training

2019

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Virtual reality (VR) research has gone through rapid advances and the technology has established itself as a valuable training tool in many domains. While research in the field of emergency response, and more specifically in the field of firefighting, is still catching up, the future potential of VR technology for training is promising. This paper uses the SWOT framework to analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats immersive VR technology faces in the field of firefighter training. While using VR for training is cost-effective, safe to use and provides the ability to prepare trainees with a large variety of high fidelity training environments, the lack in specialization of the applications for the fire-service sector and issues with technology acceptance and limitations need to be addressed. Looking to current research, there are promising findings that might be directly transferable, creating affective, and multi-sensory experiences for more effective mental and physical training of firefighters in the future. More research is needed to establish methods of skills transfer from VR to real life scenarios and to evaluate the potential risk of frequent training in engaging and physiologically stimulating virtual environments.

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Development of a Multi-Sensory Virtual Reality Training Simulator for Airborne Firefighters Supervising Aerial Wildfire Suppression

Cited by 23 publications

References 15 publications

Measuring User Experience, Usability and Interactivity of a Personalized Mobile Augmented Reality Training System

Measuring User Experience, Usability and Interactivity of a Personalized Mobile Augmented Reality Training System

Human Factors Research in Immersive Virtual Reality Firefighter Training: A Systematic Review

A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual Reality for Firefighter Training

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