Perception Coherence Zones in Flight Simulation

Abstract

The development and tuning of flight simulator motion filters relies on understanding human motion perception and its limitations. Of particular interest to flight simulation is the study of visual-inertial coherence zones. Coherence zones refer to combinations of visual and inertial cues that, although not being physically coherent, still provide the pilot with the perception of a congruent motion, indicating a realistic simulation. Coherence zones have been measured before during passive tasks, for predetermined stimuli. During a pilot-in-the-loop simulation, however, the type of inertial and visual cues being provided are considerably influenced by the pilot's control strategy. For this reason, it is important to understand how the amplitude and frequency content of the stimuli affect the perception of a coherent motion. Three experiments were performed to measure the effect of cue amplitude and frequency on yaw perception coherence zones. In accordance with previous research, the measured coherence zones were generally wider for higher amplitudes of the visual motion cue. At higher amplitudes of the visual cue, subjects preferred inertial motion amplitudes that were lower than the visual cue amplitude. The stimulus frequency was shown to have an effect on the coherence zones. For a higher frequency stimulus the preferred inertial motion amplitudes were significantly lower than for a lower frequency stimulus. These results are explained using a model of the semicircular canals dynamics. Copyright © 2010.