<title>Control of night vision pilotage systems</title>

Abstract

The control system requirements for a night vision pilotage system (NVPS) are not well understood. Terms such as 'good control' and 'no objectionable overshoot' are common when referring to control system response. Understanding the pilot's performance is key to the design of NVPS systems. The pilot's head motions become the 'target dynamics' for the NVPS to track and, as a result, are the foundation for the requirements of a pilotage system. Mission success and pilot survival depend on presenting the right image at the right time. To date, extensive research has revealed only portions of a suitable head motion model. Most studies focus on average human performance while this system requires performance at the extremes. Additional information gleaned from the references include several heuristic block diagram 'models' describing the eye and head coupled vision system. While the blocks were not defined in empirical terms that lend themselves to direct simulation and thus system synthesis, the information assembled does provide valuable insight into the dynamics of the human vision system. The above form the basis of the model presented here. This paper presents the important points and conclusions from reference materials and provides a quantitative guide for design of NVPS control systems. Additionally, a single-axis model is presented that provides a framework for additional study. This model incorporates the significant delays, models a head motion tracker, and provides a proper head motion model for the case whereby the pilot's eyes are assumed fixed with respect to the head. Results using this model are presented.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.