Search

Each year, two and one-half percent of all federal extramural research dollars are set aside for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program by ten federal agencies. For 1998 this amounts to over one billion dollars. Any small business entity, from one person up to five hundred, can apply for an SBIR award. Phase one awards range from $50,000 to $100,000 for six to nine months. Phase II awards range from $300,000 to $750,000 for two years. This paper describes several ways for enhancing the chances for getting both Phase I and Phase II awards gives sources for information about the SBIR program.

The second and third in a series of evaluations of displays providing aircraft state information for processing by the pilot's ambient visual system are reported. The second experiment examined five drive laws relating longitudinal motion of the aircraft to the motion of objects in the ambient field. The third experiment examined four methods of displaying an artificial horizon. At hovering speeds a linear relationship between an aircraft's fore and aft motion and the motion of ambient objects is preferred and resulted in slightly better station keeping and altitude maintenance. In conditions where the aircraft is flying at a constant speed, a drive law that allows the motion of the ambient objects to wash-out over time is acceptable and reduces visual clutter. The presence of ambient objects that depicted aircraft translation allowed better altitude and speed maintenance compared to displays with only attitude information, i.e., artificial horizon only, or the NVG control condition. Pilot's preferred displays with fewer ambient objects. It was also found that pilots were able to use the ambient displays effectively only in flight tasks where the maneuvering was limited to only one or two degrees of freedom (DOF). In tasks requiring maneuvering in multiple DOF simultaneously, such as a slalom, ambient displays interfered with performance.

This report describes the work performed by Monterey Technologies, Inc. under a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. The goal of the work was the development and evaluation of a novel head mounted display (HMD) that provide helicopter pilots aircraft state information in a way that allows processing by the ambient visual system. A generic helicopter simulator was built for use as a testbed. Ambient displays were presented in the pilot's peripheral field of view while the pilots performed a series of low speed flight maneuvers. The characteristics of the ambient displays were manipulated in three separate evaluations. The first evaluation focused on the size, shape, and density of the objects in the ambient display. The second experiment focused on the relationship between longitudinal motion of the aircraft and motion of the ambient objects across the display. The third experiment examined the effect of providing a horizon. In general, the presence of the ambient displays resulted in improved performance for some, but not all, flight tasks. Detailed results of these studies and recommendations for future research on the effects of ambient displays on pilot performance are presented.

The relatively new notion that visual perception is served by two functionally distinct visual systems, the focal and the ambient, is supported by research evidence accumulated over the past thirty years. The focal system provides detailed information about the world, is controlled by attention and receives input from the fovea. Its performance is highly dependent on image focus and luminance level. The ambient visual system contributes continuously and importantly to spatial orientation, stability of the visual world, and locomotion. It responds to large areas of optical flow int he visual field and therefore most of its input comes from the peripheral retina. Ambient functions are carried out largely without conscious awareness and are relatively impervious to image defocus and luminance level. The evidence for the ambient visual system is reviewed and its functional characteristics are described.

Robert T. Hennessy Thomas J. Sharkey Joy A. Matsumoto Monterey Technologies, Inc. Carmel, CA.

The final step in the acquisition process before a system or product is ready for military fielding or commercial customer purchase is operational testing and evaluation. To insure a valid operational test, the MANPRINT approach is to assure that a reasonable sample of representative users actually participate in the test and require that a system can pass or fail for people reliability as readily as for machine reliability reasons. The state of the art for methods to measure human performance in field tests are generally undeveloped compared to those for machine performance. Techniques used in laboratories and other well controlled settings are generally not suitable for field tests, and evaluations of total system performance are usually inconclusive for answering specific questions on human performance. This chapter discusses the theoretical and practical limitations in operational measures of human performance. In doing so, it is suggested that operational test constructors require more use of expert observational techniques and less of automatically recordable, but uninformative data. Finally, a MANPRINT Hierarchical Performance Measurement Model is proposed as a practical approach to relate user’s performance to system effectiveness and suitability in a more meaningful way.

Due to the complex, dynamic and fast-moving nature of the air combat task, performance assessment during air-to-air combat provides many unique measurement problems. A combined analytical and empirical technical approach was used to develop a candidate measurement structure and algorithm for the measurement of pilot performance during one-versus-one air combat maneuvering. Nearly all of 28 candidate measures were found to discriminate between high and low skilled pilots during free engagements on the Simulator for Air-to-Air Combat. Discriminant analyses provided a measurement algorithm consisting of 13 measures which accounted for 51% of the variance in the performance data and which predicted membership in high or low skill groups with 92% accuracy.

Accommodation was measured by the laser scintillation technique while the S viewed a stationary fixation spot through a series of apertures in a screen located at various distances. The magnitude of accommodation was a compromise between the distance of the fixation spot and the screen. Accommodation was affected significantly by the interaction of the distance of the screen with aperture sizes of 1 and 4 deg and distance of the screen with its order of movement from near to far or far to near. The data are interpreted as implying the importance of the peripheral visual field and/or perceptual factors when conflicting cues to distance coexist in the visual field.

The effect on matched size of the oculomotor adjustments was determined by stimulation and relaxation of accommodation and convergence by means of spherical lenses. The normal coupling between accommodation and convergence was maintained by introducing the amount of convergence appropriate to the lens power and each S’s interpupillary distance. Data indicate that the oculomotor adjustments are adequate to account for size constancy up to approximately 1 m, beyond which their effect progressively decreases. The actual accommodation in force was assessed by means of the laser scintillation technique. It was determined that the magnitude of accommodation responds accurately to the spherical lens introduced up to about 1 m observation distance, beyond which underaccommodation was noted. Examination of the matched size as a function of the actual accommodation distance reveals a very close correspondence to the size constancy prediction up to about 1 m.

In an attempt to develop an objective measure of hypnotic perception, and also to test the stability of the Ponzo perspective illusion, negative hallucinations were hypnotically induced to ablate the radiating lines of the Ponzo configuration. 3 groups of Ss (including 1 group of simulators) were tested across 3 conditions—unhypnotized, hypnotized, and hypnotized with hallucination instructions. Results indicated that the suggested hallucination did not affect susceptibility to the illusion. Results also suggested that certain hypnotically susceptible Ss might be more susceptible to the Ponzo under all experimental conditions than non-susceptible Ss. It was concluded that suggested hallucinations do not affect performance on the Ponzo illusion and that the Ponzo is a very stable illusion and appears to be highly resistant to variations in instructions and experimental set, as induced by hypnosis.

The refractive state of the eye can be accurately determined while performing a visual task by introducing the diverged beam of a laser, reflected from a moving drum, into the visual field. The direction of the apparent motion of the resultant interference pattern is a direct indicator of refractive state. By incorporation of the Badal principle into the optical system, a measurement can be completed within approximately 30 sec. The advantage of this method over other techniques is that it permits evaluation of refractive state but does not itself influehce the magnitude of accommodation. A number of applications of this principle are cited.

Accommodation was measured with a laser optometer while viewing letter charts through a series of artificial pupils over a range of distances. As pupil size is reduced, the amplitude of accommodation is diminished, approaching a fixed intermediate resting focus corresponding to approx 1 m. These data are interpreted as supporting the intermediate as opposed to the classical infinity resting focus hypothesis. Implications for instrument myopia and the relationship between perceived distance and accommodation are discussed.

Current CSE information sources are inadequate to the need. Major problems include difficulty in maintaining awareness of available CSE information, nonspecificity of information, the needed information does not exist, poor quality, and delays in obtaining needed information. A full-service CSERIAC hosted by the Harry G. Armstrong Aeromedical Research Laboratory is the proposed solution to the CSE information problem. CSERIAC will provide CSE information services including topical reviews, special analysis reports, data, models, CSE design support software, and methodological assistance to the DoD and DoD contractors. Keywords: Questionnaires; Man machine systems.

This paper elaborates on visually-coupled Wide Field of View Helmet Mounted Display (WFOVHMD) system technology as a viable visual presentation system for helicopter simulation. Critical research issues on helmet mounted displays are reviewed. Tradeoffs associated with this mode of presentation as well as research and training applications are discussed.

This report of a workshop on Supervisory Control was compiled under the Review of the National Research Council. Supervisory control is the human activity involved in initiating, monitoring, and adjusting processes in systems that are otherwise automatically controlled. The two-day workshop covered three major themes: (1) concepts and characteristics of supervisory control systems, (2) the choice of appropriate research vehicles, and (3) the interchange between researchers and designers. Summary conclusions are: (1) it is useful to characterize the emergency class of human-supervised, computer-controlled systems by strict as well as broader definitions. (2) no single or simple model of supervisory control is appropriate at this time. (3) experimenting with supervisory control systems is difficult for various reasons. (4) experienced subjects are essential for research. (5) supervisory control systems can never be completely closed, since the human supervisor must have the capability to set subgoals. (6) better guidance from researchers is needed for designers and operators, in the form of principles and checklists. Various articles cover the analysis of supervisory control systems and behavior, mental models, matching mental models of operators and designers and models of human performance. Failure modes are also discussed.

The effect of heat stress on reaction time to centrally and to peripherally presented stimuli was determined for lean and obese subjects whose work levels on a treadmill in a heat chamber produced either a 2.5 or 5% loss of body weight in six hours. Peripheral reaction time improved with practice, but central reaction time was not affected. Obesity, eccentricity of the peripheral stimulus, and the level of dehydration did not have significant effects on reaction time. It was concluded that, for short periods of time, the effects of heat stress can be overcome for highly motivated and experienced subjects.

From the physiological and anatomical point of view, the lateral visual field of the human operator is approximately 180�. Although a number of visual functions including visual acuity and the ability to detect light decrease in the peripheral regions, a normal observer generally makes discriminations out to 80� on either side of the midline and beyond. Such data as these are obtained primarily from standard experiments in which the subject, seated comfortably in an experimental room reports on the presence and nature of stimuli presented to his peripheral visual field. A different situation arises, however, When similar data are taken under non-standard laboratory conditions. If the subject is under physical or emotional stress, frightened, inexperienced, under the effects of drugs, etc., a decrement in the ability to detect peripheral stimuli is observed, This phenomenon has given rise to the concept of the functional visual field implying that although the anatomical and physiological mechanisms are present, stimuli presented to the periphery cannot be detected, or are detected at a lower level of efficiency, under conditions of stress. In connection with an experiment designed to determine the physiological effects of severe water loss as a result of heat stress, an opportunity was provided to also test the subject's ability to detect peripherally presented stimuli. Eight subjects worked on a standard treadmill according to a 20 minutes on-off duty cycle for six hours. The speed and inclination of the treadmill were adjusted so as to produce, on different days, either 5% or 2.5% weight loss. Half the subjects were male, half female, half lean and half obese. In addition, at the end of the 6 hour session, a maximum performance test was given to each subject. Data were obtained not only on the ability to detect peripheral thresholds, but also on central reaction time. The results indicate no effect whatsoever of any of the conditions of the experiment on any of the measurements taken. These data are in marked contrast to those of previous studies in which even the slightest changes in stimulus conditions produced loss of peripheral discrimination. The discrepancy between this and previous studies is attributed to the fact that the subjects had previous training in the use of the apparatus, that they were highly motivated, and that they were required to respond only for short prearranged duty cycles.

In order to evaluate the relative contribution of perceived and retinal image relationships as determiners of the Ponzo perspective illusion, the comparison lines were located physically either in the same plane as the background converging lines or in a separate plane nearer to the O. Data from 24 Ss indicated that perceived are more important than retinal image relations but that the latter may contribute to the illusory effect.