Effect of Helmet Mounted Display Field-of-View Configurations on Target Acquisition

摘要

Monocular helmet-mounted displays (HMDs) currently are used in the Army's AH-64 Apache helicopter. A partial binocular overlap HMD is slated for use with the Army's new RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. The size of the binocular HMD's field-of-view (FOV) is the size of the visual world available to the Army helicopter pilot via an imaging sensor. The Comanche HMD presents the FOV in a partial binocular overlap configuration rather than a full binocular overlap configuration. In this latter configuration, the images presented to both eyes, the monocular fields, present identical views of the visual world where the FOV consists of a single binocular region. In the partial binocular overlap configuration, the FOV consists of a central binocular overlap region seen by both eyes, and two flanking monocular regions, each seen by one eye. What is the operational effectiveness of this new visual interface. First, we briefly describe the relevant differences between normal unaided vision and vision with a binocular HMD. Then, we cover our recent empirical findings on the sensory and perceptual effects of this type of display and how visual performance might be affected. Any deficits in performance need to be quantified before they are manifested on the battlefield. This study investigates how target acquisition is affected by implementing various configurations of the HMD's binocular display.