Detection of Different Target Types in Realistic Terrain
Abstract
The effects of target and terrain characteristics on visual air-to- ground target acquisition were studied. Five target types--a portable bridge; a portable bridge with adjacent anti-aircraft artillery (AAA); a surface-to-air missile (SAM) site; a petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) supply dump; and a group of three tanks--were embedded into oblique aerial photos of real terrain at a simulated slant range of 1.6 km. Background scenes were selected to represent desert, desert/mountain, and rural terrain. Results of a search experiment showed that target type was the most important factor in determining acquisition performance, accounting for up to 40% of the experimental variance. The relative detectabilities of the target were found to group so that the bridge alone, the bridge with AAA site, and the SAM site were significantly easier to detect than the three tank group or POL site. Results are discussed in terms of the detectability of a target as related to the constraints on its possible scene location. Background was shown to be a significant effect, but accounted for about one-fourth as much of the variance as did target type. These results are compared to a previous similar study using multiple configurations of a single target type where background characteristics were shown to account for more variance. Implications for target acquisition modeling are discussed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA072973
Entities
People
- G. E. Corrick
Organizations
- Hughes Aircraft Company