11 - Combining Views

Abstract

This chapter discusses the necessity of combining information from successive views regarding the nap of the earth (NOE) helicopter design. Two quite different kinds of processes for combining views are required in the set of problems associated with NOE helicopter design: (1) the integration of successive views into a large or more inclusive perceived layout and (2) the combination of binocular views into a single cyclopean field from which information from the two individual views may or may not be retrievable. The necessity of combining information from successive views pervades virtually all perceptual tasks: in any single glance, the eye provides detailed vision from the larger surrounding periphery. When more information is needed than can be obtained in one glance, the eye moves by ballistic saccades at rates usually less than 4 per second, bringing to the fovea a preselected part of the field previously seen in peripheral vision. Therefore, information about a single object, layout, or event is usually obtained by means of several glances, each directed at a different place in space. The integration of successive glances cannot be modeled in any overall sense at this time.