Improvement of Handheld Radar Operators’ Hazard Detection Performance Using 3-D Visualization

Handheld ground-penetrating radar systems are employed in both military and humanitarian demining operations. Radar system operators are given the difficult job of determining the nature of subsurface objects from signal reflections in real time. Current systems require operators to multitask both collection and classification. This letter tested a 3-D data visualization method against a 2-D method. The 3-D method attempts to separate tasks by not forcing operators to classify objects in real time. Data showed that users classifying objects with the 3-D system had better performance and also reported that this system was more user-friendly. In addition, users were able to classify underground objects quicker with the 3-D system. The results of this letter demonstrate the benefit of 3-D visualization in ground scanning systems in increasing performance and decreasing cognitive load.