AH-64 monocular HMD visual assessment during urban combat in operation Iraqi freedom (OIF)

摘要

In the first two decades of the fielding of the monocular helmet-mounted display (HMD) flown in the U.S. Army's AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, a number of studies reported a significant incidence of physical visual symptoms and illusions. In 2004, a similar study looked at the presence of these complaints during the first combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The study found a general trend of a reduced frequency of complaints associated with the AH-64's HMD. A follow-up study has been conducted to validate this downward trend and to investigate the impact the shift in mission role of the AH-64 from one of open-field tank hunter to one of close-quarter urban combat. Thirty-eight AH-64D pilots were asked to complete a survey questionnaire that solicited data about the presence and frequency of the visual complaints reported in previous studies. Data for physical visual symptoms and static and dynamic illusions were found not to be significantly different from frequencies reported in the previous OIF study. Both OIF studies reported headache as the prominent physical complaint with height judgment and slope estimation as the most frequently reported static illusions and with undetected drift and faulty closure judgment as the two most frequently reported dynamic illusions.