The Impact of Changing the Size of Aircraft Radar Displays on Visual Search in the Cockpit

Author

Justin R. Marsh

Date of Award

3-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Systems Engineering

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

Michael E. Miller, PhD

Abstract

Advances in sensor technology have enabled our fighter aircraft to find, fix, track, target, engage (F2T2E) at greater distances, providing the operator with more data within the battlefield. Modern aircraft are designed with larger displays while our legacy aircraft are being retrofitted with larger cockpit displays to enable display of the increased data. While this modification has been shown to enable improvements in human performance of many cockpit tasks, this effect is often not measured nor fully understood at a more generalizable level. This research outlines an approach to comparing human performance across two display sizes in future F-16 cockpits. The results show that increases in display size can increase search times under some circumstances even when the displays include a large number of tracks, actually reducing human performance.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENV-MS-20-M-226

DTIC Accession Number

AD1101594

Recommended Citation

Marsh, Justin R., "The Impact of Changing the Size of Aircraft Radar Displays on Visual Search in the Cockpit" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 3246.
https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/3246