Modeling human search and target acquisition performance: 3. target detection in the presence of obscurants

Abstract

The effect of dynamically changing visibility conditions on target acquisition is considered. A model is described that takes as input the statistical characterization ofthe obscurant and the physical char acteristics of the target; the output is the probability of detection as a function of time. Analysis indicates that the variation of the obscurant as a function of time greatly affects the predicted target detection times and, hence, the utility of the infrared system in realistic scenarios.