Effect of Laser Glare and Aircraft Windscreen on Visual Search Performance Under Low Ambient Lighting.

摘要

Laser illumination of an aircraft may produce intense glare and degrade visually guided human performance. It is possible that disruption of aircrew performance will occur even at laser glare intensities well below the levels that produce eye damage. However, the degree of disruption of visual performance is probably influenced by a variety of factors, including windscreen characteristics and ambient illumination. To determine the interaction of an aircraft windscreen and low-level laser illumination. To determine the interaction of an aircraft windscreen and low-level laser illumination on visual search performance, human subjects were exposed to three laser power densities while seated in a passive cockpit simulator. The subjects performed a visual search by scanning 120 randomly placed disks projected on a screen. The task consisted of detecting and reporting the location of a single smaller target disk randomly placed among the background disks. On different test sessions subjects, under low ambient lighting (1-3 cd/m2), either viewed the task through an aircraft windscreen or with the windscreen removed. Laser light (514 nm) was projected toward the subject from the center of the disk array on the projection screen using a fiber-optic light guide. Visual search time to locate target disks viewed through the windscreen was significantly longer compared to no windscreen and depended on the intensity of the laser produced glare. Detection of the target also depended on target location relative to the center of projected disk array. Targets near the center were more effectively hidden by the laser glare. Keywords: Lasers; Visual search; Glare; Windscreens. (kt)