Accession Number:

ADA021729

Title:

Manual Control in Target Tracking Tasks as a Function of Control Characteristics: A Flight Simulator Investigation -- Phase III.

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 15 Jul 74-15 Oct 75,

Corporate Author:

MCDONNELL DOUGLAS ASTRONAUTICS CO-EAST ST LOUIS MO

Personal Author(s):

• Warner,Harold D.
• Drennen,Thomas G.
• Curtin,James G.

Report Date:

1976-01-15

Pagination or Media Count:

114.0

Abstract:

An investigation was conducted of fingertip control devices which were integrated into an aircraft throttle and used in a target acquisition and tracking task. The experimental variables included two types of controls force and displacement, two control output functions step and exponential, two cursor control calculation techniques conventional and modified, and three control display ratios. In the evaluation, 24 military-rated pilots performed an aircraft control task in addition to a target tracking task in a fixed base part task flight simulator. Pitch, roll, and airspeed errors were recorded to provide the objective measures of aircraft control proficiency. The objective measures of target tracking performance included target acquisition time and error, percent time on target, X and Y axis tracking error, and overshoots before target acquisition.

Descriptors:

• *FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS
• *RADAR TRACKING
• *MANUAL OPERATION
• EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• TARGET ACQUISITION
• PILOTS
• HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING
• FLIGHT SIMULATORS
• CONTROL STICKS
• DEBRIEFING

Subject Categories:

• Aircraft
• Active and Passive Radar Detection and Equipment
• Human Factors Engineering and Man Machine Systems

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE