The Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Pointing Device For a Wearable Computer

U.S. Air Force special tactics operators at times use small wearable computers (SWCs) for mission objectives. The primary pointing device of a SWC is either a touchpad or trackpoint, which is embedded into the chassis of the SWC. In situations where the user cannot directly interact with these pointing devices, the utility of the SWC is decreased. We developed a pointing device called the G3 that can be used for SWCs used by operators. The device utilizes gyroscopic sensors attached to the user’s index finger to move the computer cursor according to the angular velocity of his finger. We showed that, as measured by Fitts’ law, the overall performance and accuracy of the G3 was better than that of the touchpad and trackpoint. These findings suggest that the G3 can adequately be used with SWCs. Additionally, we investigated the G3 ’s utility as a control device for operating micro remotely piloted aircrafts