Modeling haptic data transfer processes through a thermal interface using an equivalent electric circuit approach

Many activities and scenarios today require human-computer interactions (HCI), and since traditional communication channels such as vision and hearing are often overloaded or irrelevant, there is an increasing interest in haptic interfaces, specifically thermal. Designing and optimizing an effective tactile interface requires an easy-to-use simulation tool to reduce the time for empirical experiments. An original modeling tool was developed in this study to support cutting edge research on human response to thermal stimuli. The human skin tissue model is developed as an equivalent electrical circuit for simultaneous simulation with a thermal display scheme and its control circuitry. The simulator enables monitoring heat flows and temperature variations at any location of the system without intervening in the process itself and inside the skin tissue, for instance, at the depth of the thermoreceptors. The other generic advantage of performing tests with a simulator is the ability to adjust the parameters according to the variety of skin types, test conditions, or thermo-display characteristics, and to simulate the response to different generated stimuli. This report presents the methodology and structure of the model along with an initial empiric validation and suggests directions for further research and future implementation.