Hatching pilot perceptions of real world and simulated light sources in visual flight simulators

Image generators for flight simulation often specify object brightnesses in display units, such as integer RGB values, so artistic judgment during color selection usually sets the relation between real-world and simulator brightnesses, here named 'brightness mapping'. As lighting and weather changes, such ad-hoc methods can cause inconsistencies in mappings which may distort a simulator pilot's perception of visibility, illumination, and distance. This paper gives a basic mathematical method and model for brightness mapping, and uses it to directly relate real-world brightnesses in units of optical power to display system units for an example simulator. The model is built from available human eyesight data, simulator display brightness and contrast performance, and five supported hypotheses about brightness perception.