A Tracking Performance Study of Large Dimensioned Target through an Optical Sight

摘要

There have been many tracking studies performed throughout the years in laboratories where a subject is required to track a point on some form of visual display. Very few studies have been performed in the field environment with larger than point type targets. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude and distribution of error when tracking the unmarked center of mass of a large diameter circular target and eventually to compare these errors to those found in the tracking of a circular target with a marked aim point at the center of mass. The results show that the distribution of error did change as a function of visual angle. As visual angle increased, the distribution of error tended to change from what appeared to be a uniform distribution to a distribution that had the tendency to peak. This was illustrated in the frequency histograms and verified using the aforementioned statistical tools. The standard deviation of tracking error was approximately 57 percent larger using targets without marked aim points compared to targets with marked aim points. There was a slight decrease in standard deviation of error as targets become larger; however, this trend was not considered significant from a practical point of view.