AUTOMATIC TARGET ACQUISITION MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE

AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION (ATR) HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY FOR FUTURE U.S. MILITARY SYSTEMS. NEAR-TERM ATR SYSTEMS IN THE ARMY WILL EMPHASIZE AIDED-SEARCH. THE MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE (MMI) FOR AIDED-SEARCH ATRS HAS BEEN INSUFFICIENTLY EXPLORED AND SPECIFIED. THE OVERALL GOAL IS TO EXAMINE THOROUGHLY THE ATR MMI ISSUES AND TO ESTABLISH RELEVANT DESIGN GUIDELINES OR SPECIFICATIONS. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE WORK PROPOSED IN PHASE I ARE: (L) TO RESOLVE AN APPARENT INCONSISTENCY BETWEEN THE RESULTS OF TWO EXISTING STUDIES OF ATR SYSTEM PROPERTIES; AND (2) TO EXPAND THE DOMAIN OF ARMY WEAPON SYSTEMS ADDRESSED BY PREVIOUS ATR MMI STUDIES. THE FIRST OBJECTIVE WILL BE ADDRESSED BY CONDUCTING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE INTERACTIONS AMONG SEVERAL ATTRIBUTES OF ATR SYSTEMS. THE SECOND OBJECTIVE REQUIRES A SURVEY OF RELEVANT ARMY APPLICATIONS OF AIDED-SEARCH ATR TECHNOLOGY AND A CRITICAL REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE. BOTH OBJECTIVES REQUIRE THE CONFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE OF SENSORS, SENSOR FUSION, VIDEO DISPLAYS, HUMAN VISUAL PERFORMANCE, HUMAN SIGNAL-DETECTION CHARACTERISTICS, HUMAN DECISION AIDS, MAN-MACHINE SYSTEM METRICS, EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY, AND THE ARMY TACTICAL CONTEXT.