Using Operational Scenarios in a Virtual Reality Enhanced Design Process

Abstract

Maritime user interfaces for ships’ bridges are highly dependent on the context in which they are used, and rich maritime context is difficult to recreate in the early stages of user-centered design processes. Operations in Arctic waters where crews are faced with extreme environmental conditions, technology limitations and a lack of accurate navigational information further increase this challenge. There is a lack of research supporting the user-centered design of workplaces for hazardous Arctic operations. To meet this challenge, this paper reports on the process of developing virtual reality-reconstructed operational scenarios to connect stakeholders, end-users, designers, and human factors specialists in a joint process. This paper explores how virtual reality-reconstructed operational scenarios can be used as a tool both for concept development and user testing. Three operational scenarios were developed, implemented in a full mission bridge simulator, recreated in virtual reality (VR), and finally tested on navigators (end-users). Qualitative data were captured throughout the design process and user-testing, resulting in a thematic analysis that identified common themes reflecting the experiences gained throughout this process. In conclusion, we argue that operational scenarios, rendered in immersive media such as VR, may be an important and reusable asset when supporting maritime design processes and in maritime training and education.

Impact of Virtual Reality on Student Motivation in a High School Science Course

“…According to the studies analyzed, further research is needed on these technologies and their impact on education. Although their benefits are recognized, the studies conducted cannot be generalized because they are limited to short-term experiments [11].…”

Development of an Augmented Reality Concept for Icebreaker Assistance and Convoy Operations

“…For most designers and researchers, the Arctic maritime context is an unfamiliar setting with hard-to-reach users [34] and a demanding context to access and work in overtime [9]. In order to continuously engage with this context after the initial field studies, our process contained a continuation of the previous fieldwork onboard icebreakers within a lab setting by using what we call VRROS (Figure 2) [27]. The VRROS represent the contextual approach for our second phase of design (Method 1) and for the whole process of usability testing (method 2).…”

“…The VRROS proved to be ideal for design development of UI concepts in the form of visual prototypes embedded in and immersed with the VR environment in the VRROS. This allowed us to rapidly test and evaluate design ideas and concepts according to a simulation of existing premises on a vessel [27,35]. In addition, the VRROS approach allowed us to maintain involvement with users, designers, and human factor (HF) specialists throughout the design and testing process.…”

“…Secondly, we present a usability study of how end users have tested the application concept. The overarching approach for both the first and the second parts of this study is the application of contextual processing in a virtual reality (VR) simulator instead of on a real ship bridge [27]. This methodological approach for concept development and user testing is described in detail in the Materials and Methods section.…”

Using Virtual Reality to Design and Evaluate a Lunar Lander: The EL3 Case Study

“…Given its ability to visualize any environment and interactively simulate hypothetical design solutions [42], virtual reality (VR) stands, at least in theory, well positioned to help inform the design of EL3. At the same time, as noted by Aylward et al, VR research is still in its infancy and is lacking many critical components to evaluate the reliability, validity, and generalizability of its methods and results [1].…”