PREDICTOR DISPLAY TECHNIQUES FOR ON-BOARD TRAJECTORY OPTIMIZATION OF RENDEZVOUS MANEUVERS.

Predictor displays for orbital rendezvous present to the pilot target position, interceptor position, and a continuous prediction of the interceptor trajectory relative to the target. Two experiments using rendezvous predictor displays are reported 1 a comparison of on-line and off-line predictor techniques, and 2 a comparison of intermittent versus continuous updating of the prediction. All conditions tested yielded successful rendezvous performance. Off-line prediction, where the pilot could, at will, interrogate the predictor without expending fuel, was demonstrated to be significantly better than on-line prediction where the pilot could see only his actual predicted path. Intermittent updating produced no significant degradation of performance with update rates as low as once per 50 seconds. Author