AN INVESTIGATION OF SECTIONAL AERONAUTICAL CHARTS AND SERIES 200 CHARTS AS BRIEFING AIDS FOR A SIDE-LOOKING RADAR RECONNAISSANCE TASK.

Abstract

After appropriate training, 42 Air Force navigators were tested on a strip of side-looking radar imagery to study the effects on performance that circling targets on two types of aeronautical charts might produce. The imagery, at a scale of 1:130,000, moved down a back-lighted 14 by 14-inch screen at 16.8 inches per minute, corresponding to 1800 knots. The subject's task was to identify all airfields, dams, railroad yards, tank farms, and ammunition storage areas. The speed and accuracy of locating and identifying these targets under three conditions of briefing were assessed. The three conditions were (1) target list only (control group), (2) Series 200 Chart (1:200,000), target circled, and (3) Sectional Aeronautical Chart (1:500,000), targets circled. Fifty-five percent of the 24 targets were found when only the target list was given. Ninety-three percent of the 24 targets were found with the Series 200 Charts. Ninety-four percent of the targets were found with the group and one each for the chart groups. The mean travel distance before detecting a target increased when the charts were used. The mean false positive travel before responding was in every comparison greater than for real targets. This suggests that readily available charts, when annotated by circling the target, improve target detection performance tremendously. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0648074

Entities

People

  • Don F. Mckechnie

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Ammunition
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Landing Fields
  • Navigators
  • Radar
  • Radar Reconnaissance
  • Railroads
  • Reconnaissance
  • Side Looking Radar
  • Target Detection
  • Training

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Geodesy