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Building Adaptive Three-dimensional Interfaces for Complex Command Control Systems

14_alc_15570_Batics

This project is devoted to the development of an integrated framework for designing 3D adaptive interfaces to visualize, understand and control complex systems.

The modeling methodology to prototype a GUI from the specification of a system makes use of models expressed in an appropriate language, such as Concurrent Object-Oriented Petri Nets (CO-OPN), which is well suited for representing the structure and behavior of a dynamic control system. The aim is to build a set of tools and libraries for application generation to provide a rapid prototype that can be easily tested and eventually modified.

The prototyping process is organized in three levels. The first, called System level, is a modelization of the physical system. The components of the system under control are modeled with CO-OPN in their properties and behaviors, representing their hierarchical relationships, failures and communications to have a complete and realistic representation of the system.

Deriving from this and from specifications concerning the interface and the users and with appropriate mapping rules a second level, called Logical interface level, models the user interface in its behavioral aspects. The semantics of the controls we want to have are expressed at this level rather than their visual implementation. The logical level has to be adaptable to different requirements, such as user profiles or usage contexts. It also needs to be able to adaptively respond to dynamic changes in the system or in the user, e.g. modifying the form and/or the detail of the information presented.

The third level, called Visual level, is where the foreseen tools will map the CO-OPN representation of the interface to a repository of 3D representation of the system, according to appropriate mapping rules, generating a prototype that can be tested. In fact, thanks to the decoupling of this visual level with the logical one, multiple metaphors can be tested by changing repository and rules.

Expected results

A methodology and tools for building user interfaces

  • Model Transformation rules for an easy derivation of interfaces from abstract system descriptions
  • New 3D navigation and interaction principles
  • GUI Adaptation principles