Supporting the Perception of Spatially Distributed Information on Ship Bridges

Abstract

Operating modern ships is a challenging task. It requires to interact with large, spatial distributed user interfaces which consist of multiple systems displaying information with varying complexity. Until today, the majority of maritime accidents occur due to human error. A lack of sufficient situation awareness is one of the most frequent reasons for human error. However, using an attention guiding system can support nautical officers to master the information flood and to avoid accidents. For this to work effectively, it has to be evaluated which information has a high demand for attention and therefore should be highlighted. Therefore, we adapted an existing monitoring assistant system to cope with information displays of varying information complexity and used it to rate the situational perception of a nautical officer on the basis of eye tracking data. Based on this we supported nautical officers with a simple attention guidance system during a maneuvering scenario in a ship bridge simulator. In this work, we present our adaptation of the monitoring assistant system, parameters to use it in the maritime scenario ''takeover with traffic encounter'' and the results of a preliminary user study in a ship bridge simulator.