Disruption of Visual Flight Control in a Synthetic Cockpit, Resulting from Continuous vs. Discontinuous Laser Glare
Abstract
An experimental study was performed in a simulator to measure visual disruption resulting from exposure to discontinuous (strobing) laser glare in a flight control task, and compare this to the disruption from continuous laser glare. Seven pilots performed a nighttime visual approach task across repeated experimental sessions. Flights were assigned to conditions including no-glare (baseline), continuous glare, and strobing glare. The strobing conditions included two additional nested manipulations, whereby the duty cycle and pulse repetition frequency were varied. Flight control was assessed quantitatively using the RMS of the deviation from an ideal linear flight path, and the standard deviation of aircraft heading. Both metrics identified disruption in the flights that included laser stimuli. Disruption was greater in the continuous glare condition than in strobing conditions, except for the strobing condition that combined the most rapid pulse repetition frequency with a higher duty cycle. In some flights in this last condition, deterioration in flight control was greater than in the continuous glare condition. Within strobing conditions, both pulse frequency and duty cycle influenced control error. Findings suggest that strobing lasers with certain temporal profiles can not only obscure scene visibility (as continuous glare does) but also interfere with dynamic visual processing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 04, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA425386
Entities
People
- Jeremy Beer
Organizations
- Naval Health Research Center