• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.733-740
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• 2012

Objective: The present study systematically analyzed the characteristics of ergonomic layout optimization methods by a comprehensive literature survey. Background: Although layout design methods for ergonomic placement of controls and displays on a console have been developed, understanding of their characteristics is lacking. Method: The present study analyzed layout optimization papers published past 20 years from the following four aspects: optimization model, optimization algorithm, design principle, and constraint/assumption. Results: The existing layout optimization methods based on various optimization techniques consider only a partial set of four layout principles(importance, frequency of use, sequence of use, and functional grouping) and two ergonomic criteria(visibility and reach). In addition, the existing methods oversimplify components in various sizes, shapes, and angles by assuming the equality of the components in size and shape. Conclusion: A more effective layout optimization method is needed which considers the layout principles and ergonomic criteria in a comprehensive manner and reflect the diversity of components in size and shape. Application: The identified characteristics on the existing layout optimization methods can be applicable to development of a better ergonomic console layout design method.

• IE interfaces
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.125-137
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• 1998

A new vehicle design approach coupled with an ergonomic human model was proposed in the study. The seating package layout of a vehicle is very important to the driving comfort, and it has been one of the primary ergonomic research areas since the past 30 years. The diverse and interrelated design factors of seating package layout in the limited workspace make designers often neglect many parameters related with drivers which differ in their anthropometric characteristics. It is due to the lack of the proper tools by which the designer can easily apply several ergonomic design guidelines to the vehicle design. In this study. an iterative package layout procedure was developed, and the effectiveness of an ergonomic human model was examined in this procedure. A discomfort function was developed for the quantitative evaluation of the driving posture. This study clearly demonstrates that the package layout using an ergonomic human model is very helpful to improve the usability and driving comfort of the drivers or passengers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 1997

A study on theergonomic design of the automated ship's bridge and console layout was carried out through this paper. The goal of this study is to find out the effective and ergonomic optimal design solutions of bridge layout hence to reduce the duty officier's workload and increase the safety of navigation. The conventional bridge layouts and modernized Integrated bridge layouts were compared using several factors. To use human factors, an ergonomic control panel layout system based on constraint satisfaction algorithm wa squoted. And the integrated ergonomic bridge layout was converged and applied to the redesign of the navigational console layout.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.103-111
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• 1994

An interactive and iterative design method based on the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) technique was developed to generate an ergonomically sound layout of a control panel. This control panel layout method attempts to incorporate a variety of relevant ergonomic principles and design constraints, and generate an optimal or, at least, a "satisfactory" solution through iterative interactions with the designer. The existing panel design and layout methods are mostly based on the optimization of single objective function formulated to reflect and trade off all ergonomic design objectives which are largely different in their nature. In fact, the problem of seeking an ergonomically sound panel design should be viewed as a multiple objective optimization problem. Furthermore, most of the design objectives should be understood as constraints rather than objectives to be optimized. Hence, a constraint satisfaction approach is proposed in this study as a framework for the panel designer to search through the design decision space effectively and make various design decisions iteratively. In order to apply the constraint satisfaction approach to the panel design procedure, the ergonomic principles such as frequency-of-use, importance, functional grouping, and sequence-of-use are formalized as CSP terms. With this formalization, a prototype system was implemented and applied to panel layout problems. The results clearly showed the effectiveness of the proposed approach since it permits designers to consider and iteratively evaluate various design constraints and ergonomic principles, and, therefore, aids the panel designer to come up with an ergonomically sound control panel layout.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.75-84
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• 1994

A control panel layout method based on the constraint satisfaction problem(CSP) technique was developed to generate an ergonomically sound panel design. This control panel layout method attempts to incorporate a variety of relevant ergonomic principles and design constrains, and generate an optimal or, at least, a "satisfactory" solution through the efficient search algorithm. The problem of seeking an ergonomically sound panel design should be viewed as a multiple criteria problem, and most of the design objectives should be understood as constraints. Hence, a CSP technique was employed in this study for dealing with the multi-constraiants layout problem. The efficient search algorithm using "preprocess" and "look ahead" procedures was developed to handle the vast amount of computational effort. In order to apply the CSP technique to the panel layout procedure, the ergonomic principles such as spatial compatibility, frequency-of- use, importance, functional grouping, and sequence-of-use were formalized as CSP terms. The effectiveness of the developed panel layout method was evaluated by example problems, and the results clearly showed that the generated layouts took various ergonomic design principles into account.esign principles into account.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.172-181
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• 1995

A control panel layout system was developed to generate an ergrnomically sound panel design. A constraint satisfaction concept was introduced as a framework of incorporating diverse ergonomic design guidelines into the panel layout. An efficient search algorithm which can find a constraint satisfaction solution within a reasonable time was developed based on preprocess and look ahead procedures with the backjumping technique. The proto- type panel layaout system was developed on a SPARC workstation. The constraint satisfaction algorithm was programmed in C language with Motif as a GUI tool under the X-windows environment. The effectiveness of the prototype paned layout system was examined by a case study.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2012

The size and layout of user interface components need to be optimally designed in terms of reachability, visibility, clearance, and compatibility in order for efficient and effective use of products. The present study develops an ergonomic design method which optimizes the size and layout of user interface components using adaptive genetic algorithm. The developed design method determines a near-optimal design which maximizes the aggregated score of 4 ergonomic design criteria (reachability, visibility, clearance, and compatibility). The adaptive genetic algorithm used in the present study finds a near-optimum by automatically adjusting the key parameter (probability of mutation) of traditional genetic algorithm according to the characteristic of current solutions. Since the adaptive mechanism partially helps to overcome the local optimality problem, the probability of finding the near-optimum has been substantially improved. To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed design method, the present study applied it to the user interface design for a portable wireless communication radio.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.707-715
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• 2011

To propose an ergonomic layout on the bridge, this study conducted a usability evaluation on the on-bridge navigational equipment of a college training ship that is in use at present. Through the usability evaluation on the training ship navigators, the possibility of operational errors with navigational equipment, the possibility of readout errors with display devices and even the effect of navigational equipment on navigation were evaluated beyond the scope of existing layouts, which adopt only the importance and usage frequency of navigational equipment. By taking ergonomic variables into consideration, this study suggested an optimized layout for on-bridge navigational equipment using a mathematical programming model.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.85-97
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• 1994

An interactive and iterative control panel layout method based on the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) technique was developed to generate an ergonomically sound panel design. This control panel layout method attempts to incorporate a variety of relevant ergonomic principles and design constraints, and generate an optimal or, at least, a "satisfactory" solution through an efficient search algorithm. The problem of seeking an ergonomically sound panel design should be viewed as a multi-criteria design problem and most of the design objectives should be understood as constraints. Hence, a CSP technique was employed in this study for dealing with the multi-constraints layout problem. The efficient search algorithm using "preprocess" and "look_ahead" procedures was developed to handle vast amount of computation. In order to apply the CSP technique to the panel layout procedure, the ergonomic principles such as spatial compatibility, frequency-of-use, importance, functional grouping, and sequence-of-use were formalized as CSP terms. The effectiveness of the proposed panel layout method was evaluated by example problems and the results clearly showed that the generated layouts properly considered various ergonomic design principles.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.251-257
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• 2011

When designing a ship, ergonomic considerations are crucial when minimizing a navigator's fatigue due to the burden of work, and to appropriately operate the navigational equipment for each given situation by helping the operator to understand the surroundings as well as the physical functions of the ship. However, insufficient consideration of ergonomic elements in the actual design of ship Bridges is lowering the performance of safe navigation and allows for the possibility of operation or readout errors. Consequently, these errors lead to an increase in maritime accidents. Therefore, this study conducted a usability evaluation on the importance of and the usage frequency of navigational equipment, their influence on actual navigation, and the possibility of error upon operation or readout between training ship officers, to derive an optimized layout that includes the consideration of ergonomic factors for on-Bridge navigational equipment, which are currently arranged differently according to their type or size. The optimized layout of on-Bridge navigational equipment was carried out based on the evaluation results, using the Lingo program. Through the process of optimization, revised layouts of on-Bridge navigational equipments(control and display device) were suggested, considering emergency situations(ship collision, stranding, fire and explosion, sinking, etc.) during navigation.