The Effect of Scene Rotation on Target Acquisition

Abstract

Studies were performed to determine the effects of scene rotation on target acquisition performance. Video tapes of simulated straight approaches to surface vehicular targets were made at constant offset, altitude, and speed using a terrain table (600:1) and a gimbal mounted TV camera. Detection and (separate) recognition tests were then made under load (button-pushing) and no-load conditions. No differences in detection slant range and erroneous detections were found between the rotated (roll-pitch) and non-rotated (yaw-pitch gimbal order) conditions or between the load/no-load conditions. Statistically significant differences were found between the recognition ranges and error scores for gimbal order but again not between load/no-load conditions. It was concluded that the sensor line of sight should be stabilized or derolled if maximum recognition performance is to be realized using airborne electro-optical systems in ground target acquisition.