Parametric design of an excitation pattern for smooth vibrotactile flow on thin plates

In the previous research, the vibrotactile flow that can be generated by the excitation pattern utilizing structural resonance phenomena of a thin plate was smoother than the vibrotactile flow generated by the conventional apparent tactile movement and phantom sensation methods. This paper further investigates effects of three design parameters (signal-duration, time-interval between the two actuating signals, cutoff-time) in the excitation pattern on the smoothness of the vibrotactile flow. User study results show that the time-interval between the two actuating signals is the most important parameter while the signal-duration is the second. This fact can be effectively used when designing an excitation pattern that can generate smoother vibrotactile flow.