4D Narrative Visualizations for Marine-Drone Mission Reporting

Abstract

Marine-drone missions generate complex spatial, temporal, and operational data that must be interpreted after a mission and communicated to different stakeholders. Conventional dashboards can make it difficult to reconstruct how events unfolded, understand the relationships between autonomous systems and their environment, and identify the information that matters for a mission report.

This doctoral project investigates 4D narrative visualizations that combine three-dimensional space with time to support the exploration, interpretation, and reporting of marine-drone missions. The research examines how interactive storytelling, temporal navigation, annotation, and coordinated views can transform heterogeneous mission data into coherent and understandable accounts.

The project is carried out by Kingsley Stephens in collaboration with the University of South Australia, Naval Group, and IMT Atlantique, within the CNRS IRL CROSSING France–Australia research framework.

Research objectives

1. Characterize the information and narrative structures required for marine-drone mission reporting.
2. Design interactive 4D representations that connect mission events, trajectories, environments, and system states.
3. Evaluate how narrative visualization supports understanding, communication, and decision-making after a mission.

PhD student

Kingsley Stephens

Kingsley Stephens is a PhD student working within CNRS IRL CROSSING on 4D narrative visualizations for marine-drone mission reporting, in collaboration with the University of South Australia and Naval Group.