Assessing the Situation Awareness of Operators Using Maritime Augmented Reality System (MARS)

Operators controlling vehicles remotely are required to perceive and process information from several sources such as video feeds, maps and radar. These sources of information are often located on different screens and in order to make informed decisions, they require good Situation Awareness (SA) and the ability to locate information easily. To reduce the frequency of instrument scanning, it is proposed that information from other sources such as maps and radar can be co-located on the same screen using Augmented Reality (AR). In Maritime Augmented Reality System (MARS) interface, information from the Automatic Identification System for vessels in the maritime environment is augmented on the video feed so that operators can have ready access to vessel location and heading while navigating. Experiments were carried out to assess the SA and workload of the operator using evaluation methods such as SAGAT and SART. Results suggest that by providing additional information through the use of AR, SA of the operator improved even though there might be a suggestion of an increase in workload.