Effects of stereoscopy on a human-computer interface for Network Centric Operations

Network Centric Warfare can be accomplished thanks to a network of geographically distributed forces, granting a flow of increased contents, quality and timeliness of information, building up a shared situational awareness. When this flow is displayed to an operator, there is the possibility of reaching a state of information overload. To avoid this situation, new ways to conceive the interface between human and computer must be evaluated. This paper proposes an experimental stereoscopic 3D synthetic environment aimed to improve the understanding of the modern battle spaces. This facility is part of the LOKI Project, a Command and Control system for Electronic Warfare developed by Elettronica S.p.A. We discuss technical details of the system and describe a preliminary usability study. This first evaluation is very positive and encourages continuing research into Human-Computer Interaction for military applications.