Augmenting Human Cognition with a Digital Submarine Periscope Human-Machine Interface

Advances in opto-electronics enables replacement of traditional periscopes which display only a portion of the horizon, with digital periscopes, which can potentially display a full 360° panoramic digital representation of the horizon. One advantage of an increased field of view (FOV) might be to reduce memory requirements and improve integration of visual information over time, thereby improving detection of vessels (contacts) at sea. Another potential advantage of moving to digital periscopes is that imagery can be paired with digital aids that can replace or simplify tasks traditionally performed manually, such as contact identification. This study compared a low-FOV visual concept to a high-FOV concept (Experiment 1), and then traditional analysis tools with digitized analysis tools (Experiment 2). The high-FOV concept and digitized tools provided a range of perceived workload, perceived usability, and performance benefits to the human operator, and we conclude that digitally augmenting the periscope can potentially support submariner tasks. THIS VERSION (18 Jul 23) AND ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS HAVE NOT BEEN PEER REVIEWED. PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION.