Development And Evaluation Of A Digital Computer Program For Automatic Human Performance Monitoring In Flight Simulator Training PDF Download

A digital computer program for automatic human performance monitoring in flight simulator training was designed, implemented, and evaluated. The program is general purpose in design and consists of two segments: (1) the Input segment, permitting performance measures and criteria to be defined and updated on-line by the instructor and allowing the instructor to request integrated, easily interpreted performance information to be displayed or recorded; and (2) the Monitoring segment, operating on defined criteria to monitor and evaluate performance. The program was implemented on a Raytheon 440 computer and operated in real-time with an orbital-reentry vehicle simulation. Evaluations were made of the program's utility in monitoring and scoring tasks involving manual attainment of retro-attitude, overall attitude and rate control, and procedural tasks for reentry operations. The monitoring program was also applied to a representative tracking task to compare its efficiency with that of a special purpose monitoring approach. The research allows the following conclusions and recommendations to be made: (1) a general purpose program capable of a variety of performance monitoring and evaluating applications in simulator training is feasible and directly applicable to increasing the effective use of simulators; (2) with minor revisions to the prototype system, the monitoring program will operate within the spare time and memory of current flight simulators; (3) it is not justifiable to attempt to gain program efficiency at the expense of operational flexibility; and (4) a version of the present program can now be implemented in an operational simulator training system for field evaluation. (Author).