A Performance Analyzer for Identifying Changes in Human Operator Tracking Strategies.
Abstract
An experimental and analytical study was undertaken by Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. to develop, implement, and validate a compensatory tracking task for use as a preliminary screening task in the assessment of visual countermeasures. The optimal control model of the human operator was used to design the tracking task consisting of an unstable controlled element perturbed by a sum-of-sines disturbance function. A minicomputer-based system was developed to implement the task, and the resulting Performance Analyzer was used to conduct the experimental validation phase of the study. Two simulated stressors were introduced into the tracking task, and the results showed that significant differences could be detected between tracking conditions, thus validating the task's sensitivity to imposed stress. A comparison of the data trends with pre-experimental model predictions served to identify the particular stressor effects, and thus provided a means of differentiating between stressors. A follow-up quantitative model analysis provided an efficient means of compressing the tracking data made available by the Performance Analyzer, and also provided a verification of the task's utility in isolating and identifying stressor effects. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA070632
Entities
People
- Greg L. Zacharias
- William H. Levison
Organizations
- BBN Technologies