Navigation is a multifaceted human ability involving complex cognitive functions. It allows the active exploration of unknown environments without becoming lost while enabling us to move efficiently across well-known spaces. However, the increasing reliance on navigation assistance systems reduces surrounding environment processing and decreases spatial knowledge acquisition and thus orienting ability. To prevent such a skill loss induced by current navigation support systems like Google Maps, we propose a novel landmark technique in augmented reality (AR): the virtual global landmark (VGL). This technique seeks to help navigation and promote spatial learning. We conducted a pilot study with five participants to compare the directional arrows with VGL. Our result suggests that the participants learned more about the environment while navigation using VGL than directional arrows without any significant mental workload increase. The results have a substantial impact on the future of our navigation system.

Although beacon- and map-based spatial strategies are the default strategies for navigation activities, today’s navigational aids mostly follow a beacon-based design where one is provided with turn-by-turn instructions. Recent research, however, shows that our reliance on these navigational aids is causing a decline in our spatial skills. We are processing less of our surrounding environment and relying too heavily on the instructions given. To reverse this decline, we need to engage more in map-based learning, which encourages the user to process and integrate spatial knowledge into a cognitive map built to benefit flexible and independent spatial navigation behaviour. In an attempt to curb our loss of skills, we proposed a navigation assistant to support map-based learning during active navigation. Called the virtual global landmark (VGL) system, this augmented reality (AR) system is based on the kinds of techniques used in traditional orienteering. Specifically, a notable landmark is always present in the user’s sight, allowing the user to continuously compute where they are in relation to that specific location. The efficacy of the unit as a navigational aid was tested in an experiment with 27 students from the University of Technology Sydney via a comparison of brain dynamics and behaviour. From an analysis of behaviour and event-related spectral perturbation, we found that participants were encouraged to process more spatial information with a map-based strategy where a silhouette of the compass-like landmark was perpetually in view. As a result of this technique, they consistently navigated with greater efficiency and better accuracy.

To reduce the decline of spatial cognitive skills caused by the increasing use of automated GPS navigation, the virtual global landmark (VGL) system is proposed to help people naturally improve their sense of direction. Designed to accompany a heads-up navigation system, VGL system constantly displays silhouette of global landmarks in the navigator’s vision as a notable frame of reference. This study exams how VGL system impacts incidental spatial learning, i.e., subconscious spatial knowledge acquisition. We asked 55 participants to explore a virtual environment and then draw a map of what they had explored while capturing electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and eye activity. The results suggest that, with the VGL system, participants paid more attention during exploration and performed significantly better at the map drawing task—a result that indicates substantially improved incidental spatial learning. This finding might kickstart a redesigning navigation aids, to teach users to learn a route rather than simply showing them the way.

This paper proposes a service-centric contextualized vehicular (SCCV) cloud platform to facilitate the deployment and delivery of cloud-based mobile applications over vehicular networks. SCCV cloud employs a multi-tier architecture that consists of the network, mobile device, and cloud tiers. Based on this architecture, we present a seamless solution for delivery of personalized mobile applications to vehicular users in an intelligent and reliable manner. We further develop and deploy prototype mobile applications on SCCV cloud, to demonstrate the desired functionality and feasibility of SCCV cloud. Our practical experiments show that SCCV cloud works efficiently with low networking overhead on popular mobile devices in real-world transportation scenarios

The modelling of trust values on agents is broadly considered fundamental for decision-making in human-autonomous teaming (HAT) systems. Compared to the evaluation of trust values for robotic agents, estimating human trust is more challenging due to trust miscalibration issues, including undertrust and overtrust problems. From a subjective perception, human trust could be altered along with dynamic human cognitive states, which makes trust values hard to calibrate properly. Thus, in an attempt to capture the dynamics of human trust, the present study evaluated the dynamic nature of trust for human agents through real-time multievidence measures, including human states of attention, stress and perception abilities. The proposed multievidence human trust model applied an adaptive fusion method based on fuzzy reinforcement learning to fuse multievidence from eye trackers, heart rate monitors and human awareness. In addition, fuzzy reinforcement learning was applied to generate rewards via a fuzzy logic inference process that has tolerance for uncertainty in human physiological signals. The results of robot simulation suggest that the proposed trust model can generate reliable human trust values based on real-time cognitive states in the process of ongoing tasks. Moreover, the human-autonomous team with the proposed trust model improved the system efficiency by over $50\%$ compared to the team with only autonomous agents. These results may demonstrate that the proposed model could provide insight into the real-time adaptation of HAT systems based on human states and, thus, might help develop new ways to enhance future HAT systems better.

Accurately assessing mental states—such as mental workload and fatigue— is crucial for ensuring the reliability and effectiveness of brain-computer interface (BCI)-based applications. Relying on signals from a limited brain region with low spatial resolution may fail to capture the full scope of relevant information. To address this, high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT), an emerging form of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was employed in this study, which provides higher spatial resolution for hemodynamic measurements and enables the reconstruction of 3D brain images. An experiment protocol was designed to investigate both mental workload and fatigue, two critical components of cognitive state that often fluctuate concurrently in real-world scenarios. Machine learning methods were applied for subject-specific classification, achieving 95.14% mean accuracy for fatigue/non-fatigue and 97.93% for four n-back tasks using Random Forest, outperforming Support Vector Machines. These results highlight the transformative potential of HD-DOT in advancing multifaceted cognitive state assessment, paving the way for more precise, adaptable, and powerful BCI applications.