Evaluation of Input Devices for Pointing,Dragging and Text Entry Tasks On A Tracked Vehicle

Abstract

Soldiers in modern military context are often required to sit in front of workstations and execute time or mission critical commands using computers. These actions can mostly be broken down into very basic tasks such as pointing, dragging and text entry which are common tasks related to human interaction with a graphical user interface (GUI). In addition, many of these operations are performed in vehicles while on the move. In this study, we conducted experiments to evaluate the performances of input devices for pointing, dragging and text entry tasks on a tracked vehicle. The results and findings are documented in this paper. Results indicate that touchscreen has better performance for non-precise pointing tasks and the thumbstick performed better for dragging tasks. The keyboard performed better for text entry tasks.