Vibrotactile Navigational Cues May Be Effective for Specific Urban Air Mobility Operations

Urban air mobility (UAM) operations may require precise navigation under high-workload conditions. This study examined how vibrotactile navigational cues impact UAM operator performance and subjective experience. Novice participants piloted a simulated UAM aircraft along predetermined routes in a virtual reality simulation of the San Francisco Bay Area. Vibrotactile cues alerted participants to horizontal and vertical flight path deviations. Each participant completed three simulation runs, consisting of en route and glideslope landing operations with each cue type (directional, nondirectional, no cues). Objective measures (correction time, deviation frequency), subjective ratings (workload, situational awareness, system usability), and post-experiment feedback were collected. During the en route phase, participants exhibited shorter correction times using directional and nondirectional cues compared to no cues. Fewer path deviations were observed in directional cue trials during both en route and glideslope landing operations compared to nondirectional and no cues. While directional cues did not improve situational awareness, they also did not increase workload or reduce usability scores. In contrast, nondirectional cues improved situational awareness but also increased workload, lowered usability scores, and reduced performance. These results suggest directional vibrotactile navigational cues could enhance multimodal UAM displays by providing intuitive, nonvisual guidance during different flight operations.