Samenvatting

This graduation project was conducted for Thales Nederland B.V., Hengelo.
The primary goal of this graduation assignment was to explore and research whether or not gaming devices could be used to increase usability while performing various combat operations within TACTICOS (a Combat Management System onboard naval vessels).
Research was conducted into TACTICOS and its functionality in order to outline any potential usability issues within the system. Usability was measured according to specific criteria used within Thales, which have been specified in this document. Furthermore, over 20 gaming devices have been researched in order to outline various ways in which they could increase the overall usability within TACTICOS.
The research led to picking two devices for further exploration: Razer Naga Trinity (mouse) and Razer Tartarus v2 (keypad). In order to demonstrate that these can be used for the purposes of increasing usability, a Proof of Concept application was built (in ElectronJS), based on predefined criteria.
It was concluded that usability could indeed be increased while performing combat operations within TACTICOS. This was done by using the aforementioned devices to change the identity of a given track in only three steps (as opposed to 3-4 steps in the currently implemented solutions). The proposed solution scored highly on the usability metrics performance speed, memorability and learnability. User testing is required to determine the performance in the case of the final two usability metrics – errors/safety and satisfaction.
Furthermore, it was concluded that the proposed solution can be integrated within TACTICOS. This conclusion opens up the possibility for further exploration into gaming devices and their use in tactical situations.
Due to COVID restrictions, the research process was partially hindered in two ways: lack of access to the TACTICOS system (to better identify usability issues), as well as lack of user testing (to measure and prove the efficacy of the developed solution). Recommendations have been provided to Thales on how the devices could be used to their fullest extent, as well as how they could be integrated within TACTICOS.