DCA help Guidance Navigation to develop new User Interface for marine positioning system
DCA worked closely with Guidance Navigation to develop the CyScan Dashboard, a new touchscreen-based user interface for their CyScan system, a high-performance local position reference sensor system specifically engineered for Marine Dynamic Positioning (DP) applications.
The CyScan system accurately measures the range and bearing of retro-reflective targets allowing the calculation of the vessel position and heading. The new user interface has been logically structured and carefully designed to provide a clear intuitive interface that maximises the opportunities of multi-touch user control and touch screen technology.
The DCA team used a combination of practical and observational research techniques to develop a detailed understanding of the limitations and opportunities of current systems. To efficiently develop a new Graphic User Interface application that maximised the potential of a touchscreen platform, DCA used the software authoring tool Microsoft Expression Blend. This development tool allowed DCA’s designers to harness the research insights and implement feature design proposals, whilst concurrently gaining user feedback and approval. Equally importantly, using this development platform provided Guidance’s developers with addressable locations to link the front-end UI application efficiently to the core Guidance control application. This meant that the integrated system could be regularly tested and reviewed as it evolved throughout the development cycle.
This close collaboration helped to deliver the CyScan Dashboard within a rapid timeframe, allowing DP operators to use the CyScan system intuitively and effectively to provide optimum positioning performance.
