Human Factors in Designing a Hand-Held Control Unit for a Single-Sideband CB Radio

Abstract

Designing a hand-held control unit for a single-sideband citizens-band (CB) radio involved combining several research techniques and involved specialists from the areas of human factors, marketing, industrial design, and engineering. Task analysis and operational sequence studies were conducted, and expert and informed opinions were gathered from many people during the initial stage of the research. These were followed by a driving simulation to compare a hand-held control unit with a more conventional CB radio in terms of safety and to answer some basic questions about case and keyboard configurations. Four surveys were conducted during various stages of the control unit's development to collect consumer opinions on all aspects of the product. The entire research effort of approximately 4 months involved only one or two human factors specialists to provide the needed information in a timely manner.