Motion Factors in Flight Simulation.

Abstract : A study was performed to investigate the effect of different simulator motion conditions on pilot performance. It was intended to explore the cueing function of simulator motion. Subjects were required to perform a simulated air-to-air gunnery task under four conditions of motion where the frequency components of such motion inputs were limited to 0 Hz (no motion), 0-1.0 Hz, 0-2.5 Hz, 0-3.5 Hz, respectively. These conditions were hypothesized to interact differentially with concomitant visual motion cues. Results of performance accuracy (e.g., percent time-on-target) indicated a tendency for the order of conditions from best to worst to be 0-2.5 Hz, 0-1.0 Hz, 0-3.5 Hz, 0 Hz. However, the treatment effects did not meet the predetermined level of statistical significance. Simulator motion produced better accuracy performance than no motion. There was a significant learning or practice effect as a result of continued exposure to the task. Other performance parameters showed no systematic differences as a function of experimental condition. These variables may have been affected by 'noise' in the response of the motion platform which tended to mitigate differences among the experimental conditions. In general, the results of this study appear to confirm indications in previous studies that simulator motion need not be a faithful reproduction of real-life motion in order to provide essential motion cues. (Author)