Demonstration of a moving-map system for improved precise lane navigation of amphibious vehicles and landing craft

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has tested and demonstrated a prototype moving-map system for naval landing craft and amphibious vehicles. NRL proposed that a moving-map would improve crew situational awareness and communications, thereby improving precise lane navigability. This paper presents results of demonstrations performed during the Transparent Hunter naval exercise in January 2003. Comparisons in navigation performance (measured in terms of root mean square "cross-track" error) are presented for vehicles using the moving-map system and the same vehicles using no moving-map. These results suggest that the moving-map significantly improves lane navigation performance. Crew feedback was also positive: crewmembers reported that the moving-map was easy to operate with minimal training and very effective in helping operators keep the vehicle within the lane.