Effects of Continuous and Strobing Laser Glare on Performance in a Visually Simulated Flight Task

摘要

Strobing laser glare may present a threat to aircrew. In addition to obscuring the visibility of instruments and terrain (as continuous exposures can), strobing exposures could potentially impede visual motion processing. This report describes a study in which a low cost, medium-fidelity virtual cockpit environment was used to measure the effects of strobing vs. continuous laser exposure on performance in a visual flight task. Results suggest that strobing laser glare poses a legitimate threat to visual orientation control, that this threat might rival or eclipse that posed by continuous laser sources, and that further examination of the threat is needed.