Abstract—In user interface design a common pitfall is to use the
technical properties of the device as basis for the design, which
easily causes a user interface to become too complicated and hard
to use. Also, the great development in the area of different hand-held
terminal devices has set new requirements for user interfaces: screen
sizes of devices are very small, advanced I/O devices are used instead
of ordinary mouse and keyboard and the operating environment
of the devices differs significantly from familiar PCs and laptops.
However, governmental and in particular military communications
systems often trail behind this development. To be able to overcome
the aforementioned challenges and take usability of governmental
communication systems to a new level, a new approach is needed.
This paper covers user-centered design of graphical user interfaces to
advanced communication devices designed to be used in challenging
environment, e.g., in moving vehicles and outdoors in any season,
and to support devices with limited screen size and touch screen
technology. We also introduce a proof-of-concept implementation
and show through a user test that general principles introduced
in the paper can easily be applied to a specialized communication
device.