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NASA Technical Paper 3426CECOM Technical Report 93-B-E-3

Effective Declutter of Complex Flight DisplaysUsing Stereoptic 3-D Cueing

Russell V. Parrish, Steven P. Williams, and Dean E. Nold

April 1994

NASA Technical Paper 3426CECOM Technical Report 93-B-E-3

Effective Declutter of Complex Flight DisplaysUsing Stereoptic 3-D CueingRussell V. ParrishLangley Research Center � Hampton, Virginia

Steven P. WilliamsJoint Research Program OfficeCommand/Control and Systems Integration DirectorateCommunications Electronics CommandLangley Research Center � Hampton, Virginia

Dean E. NoldPurdue University Calumet � Hammond, Indiana

National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationLangley Research Center � Hampton, Virginia 23681-0001

April 1994

National Aeronautics andSpace AdministrationCode JTTWashington, D.C.20546-0001

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Abstract

The application of stereo technology to new, integrated pictorial dis-

play formats has been e�ective in situational awareness enhancements,

and stereo has been postulated to be e�ective for the declutter of complex

informational displays. This paper reports a full-factorial workstation

experiment performed to verify the potential bene�ts of stereo cueing for

the declutter function in a simulated tracking task. The experimental

symbology was designed similar to that of a conventional ight director,

although the format was an intentionally confused presentation that re-

sulted in a very cluttered dynamic display. The subject's task was to

use a hand controller to keep a tracking symbol, an \X," on top of a

target symbol, another X, which was being randomly driven. In the ba-

sic tracking task, both the target symbol and the tracking symbol were

presented as red X's. The presence of color coding was used to provide

some declutter, thus making the task more reasonable to perform. For

this condition, the target symbol was coded red, and the tracking symbol

was coded blue. Noise conditions, or additional clutter, were provided by

the inclusion of randomly moving, di�erently colored X symbols. Stereo

depth, which was hypothesized to declutter the display, was utilized by

placing any noise in a plane in front of the display monitor, the tracking

symbol at screen depth, and the target symbol behind the screen. The

results from analyzing the performances of eight subjects revealed that

the stereo presentation e�ectively o�sets the cluttering e�ects of both the

noise and the absence of color coding. The potential of stereo cueing

to declutter complex informational displays has therefore been veri�ed ;

this ability to declutter is an additional bene�t from the application of

stereoptic cueing to pictorial ight displays.

Introduction

With the rapid advances in modern graphicsdisplay generators, it is now possible to producehigh-�delity, real-time images of real-world scenes(\real-world" pictorial displays). With current elec-tronic display technology, it is also possible to in-corporate true depth cueing (via stereopsis tech-niques) into the scene elements of the display.Advanced pictorial ight display concepts that em-body three-dimensional (3-D) images are being con-ceived and evaluated at various ight display researchlaboratories, including Langley Research Center. In-novative concepts are sought that exploit the powerof modern graphics display generators and stereopsiscueing, not only in situational awareness enhance-ments of pictorial displays but also in displays thatdeclutter complex informational presentations.

The use of stereoptic presentations of informationthat has three dimensions, rather than the more con-ventional two-dimensional presentation of such in-formation, potentially o�ers numerous advantages.These possible advantages have been investigated foryears within the ight display community (refs. 1to 24). Most of these investigations have focused on

ight task performance (refs. 1 to 16). These studieshave reported favorable subjective opinions concern-ing the value of stereopsis cueing, and when objectivedata were obtained, the data generally demonstratedmodest task performance gains, or at least no degra-dations, compared with performance using nonstereodisplays. These performance gains and the favorablesubjective evaluations are generally attributed to theincreased situational awareness provided by stereop-sis cueing.

References 8 and 16 examine the use of stereopsiscueing as an alerting function in monitoring taskdisplays. Both studies show stereopsis to be in-e�ective as an alerting cue, although one might inferthat depth cueing is ine�ective only because it isused away from the subject's �xation point, wherestereoacuity is considerably reduced.

Stereopsis cueing intuitively seems to be an e�ec-tive means to declutter complex informational dis-plays. One could easily envision enhancing a clut-tered head-down or head-up primary ight displaywith depth cueing. For example, separating theheading information from the pitch information insuch a display might prove bene�cial. The goal of

this research was to verify the potential of stereo cue-ing to declutter information in a simulated trackingtask. The piloting task for the study was designed tobe similar to tracking a conventional ight director,although the format presentation was intentionallychaotic so that it resulted in a very cluttered dynamicdisplay. It was hypothesized that the application ofstereoptic cueing would e�ectively declutter such aformat and that this e�ectiveness could be measuredas an improvement in tracking performance.

Experimental Tasks and Participating

Subjects

A two-axis pursuit tracking task was chosen as theprimary task for the experiment. The experimentalsymbology was designed to be similar to that of aconventional ight director (which presents a com-pensatory tracking task), although the format pre-sentation was intentionally chaotic so that it resultedin a very cluttered dynamic display. The subject'stask was to use a hand controller to keep a trackingsymbol, an X, on top of a target symbol, anotherX, which was being randomly driven (�g. 1). AnX shape was used instead of the crossed needles orthe \+" symbology of a ight director because thehorizontal member of the \+" is not conducive tostereo presentation. (A lateral o�set in the left-eyeand right-eye stereo views is not possible for a hori-zontal line.)

In the basic tracking task, both the target symboland the tracking symbol are presented as red X's.The presence of color coding was used to providesome declutter, thus making the task appear to bemore reasonable to perform. For this condition,the target symbol was coded red, and the trackingsymbol was coded blue. In the condition in whichthe color coding was absent, the target and thetracker were red. It was anticipated that subjectswould have di�culty separating disturbance inputsfrom their own control inputs in this latter condition.Noise conditions, or additional clutter, were providedby the inclusion of randomly moving, di�erentlycolored X symbols. Examples of the colored symbolsare zero, two extra symbols (green and purple),or four extra symbols (green, purple, white, andyellow, as shown in �g. 2). Stereo depth, which washypothesized to declutter the display, was utilized(�g. 3) by placing any noise in a plane in front of thedisplay monitor (25 in. away from the subject), thetracking symbol at screen depth (28 in. away from thesubject), and the target symbol behind the screen(31 in. away from the subject). These particulardepth values are considered to be within the guideline

limits of the usable stereo viewing volume suggestedin reference 20.

Preliminary trials of the tracking task, with nocolor coding, no noise sources, and no stereo depthcueing, suggested that the display was too confusingto yield consistently reasonable results. Figure 1shows four intersection points that are formed by thearms of the target and tracker X symbols, of whichonly two are signi�cant (one for the target and onefor the tracker). The addition of boxes (a diamondshape) about the proper intersection points of the Xsymbols removed that ambiguity.

Eight subjects participated in this study. None ofthe subjects had extensive experience with stereo dis-plays, although most had some experience in manualtracking tasks with nonstereo displays. The perfor-mance metric for the tracking task of the study wasthe root mean square (rms) value of the radial errorduring a run. The main factors of interest in the full-factorial experiment were the display viewing modeof nonstereo or stereo 3-D, the presence or absence ofcolor coding for the declutter function, and the noiseconditions for additional clutter. Training was initi-ated with no noise and the condition in which colorcoding was present (with the subject training blockedover the stereo viewing mode) to enable quick pro�-ciency. Training then progressed through each noisecondition and the condition in which color codingwas absent. The rms error score was reported to thesubject following each trial. Each subject achievedapproximate asymptotic performance for each of theexperimental conditions before data collection wasbegun. During data collection, three replicates ofeach condition were obtained from each of the eightsubjects, thus resulting in 36 data runs per subject.The data collection runs were blocked across the ex-perimental conditions and balanced across the sub-jects to negate any possible learning curve e�ects thatmight occur after the apparent asymptotic perfor-mance was achieved. (The order of the experimen-tal conditions own by each subject is presented intable 1.)

Workstation Description

The workstation was assembled with a hand con-troller, a display monitor, a Silicon Graphics, Incor-porated, IRIS 340 VGX computer, and stereo displaygeneration hardware. The stereo display generationsoftware and hardware are described in detail in ref-erences 23 to 25. The hand controller input governedthe vertical and the lateral positioning of the trackersymbol (i.e., the position of the intersection of thecross pieces of the X symbol). The positioning ofthe target symbol and of the various noise symbols

2

was determined from disturbance function equationsH(L), which utilized the sum of eight sine waves ofvarious amplitudes Kk, frequencies !k, and phase an-gle parameters �L. Table 2 presents the values ofthese parameters, which are based on the work doc-umented in reference 26. The term L stands for theindex of element color and axis combination. The dis-turbance functions repeated once every 36 sec. Eachof the data runs lasted 72 sec, but data collectionoccurred only during the last 36 sec to remove anyinitial transient e�ects.

Experimental Results and Discussion

The investigation was designed as a full-factorial,within-subjects experiment, with subjects S, noiseN , viewing mode V , color coding C, and replicatesR as the factors. The objective results are presentedand discussed �rst, and the subjective results arediscussed second.

Analysis of Objective Results

The rms tracking data collected in the full-factorial experiment were analyzed using univariateanalysis of variance. Table 3 is a summary of theresults of this analysis.

Discussion of Objective Results

Each of the main factors of the experiment is dis-cussed; these discussions are followed by explanationsof any statistically signi�cant second-order and third-order interaction terms.

Subjects S. The main e�ect of subject variabilitywas highly signi�cant. This result is usually expectedin a precision task, and the subject variability wastherefore isolated from the rest of the analyses by itsinclusion as a main factor in the experiment.

Noise N. The noise conditions, or additionalclutter, were provided by the inclusion of randomlymoving, di�erently colored X symbols (either zero,two, or four extra symbols). The N factor was highlysigni�cant, and its success in adding additional clut-ter to the display is illustrated in �gure 4. (Onescreen unit for the 19-in. monitor used in the ex-periment was equivalent to approximately 0.25 in.)Increasing the number of noise sources resulted indegradations in the mean and the standard devia-tions of the rms tracking error.

Viewing mode V. Stereo depth, hypothesizedto declutter the display, was utilized by placing anynoise in a plane in front of the display monitor, the

tracking symbol at screen depth, and the target sym-bol behind the screen. This factor was highly signif-icant, and better performance in the tracking taskoccurred in the stereo mode than in the nonstereomode. Figure 5 illustrates the improvements ob-tained in both the mean and the standard deviationsof the rms tracking error.

Color coding C. The presence of color codingwas used to provide some declutter, thus making thetask more reasonable to perform. For this condition,the target symbol was coded red, and the trackingsymbol was coded blue. In the condition in which thecolor coding was absent, the target and the trackerwere red. It was anticipated that subjects would havedi�culty separating disturbance inputs from theirown control inputs in this latter condition. The colorcoding factor was found to be statistically signi�cant,but it was not highly signi�cant. (The color codingfactor had been anticipated to be highly signi�cant.)Figure 6 illustrates the slight improvements obtainedin both the mean and the standard deviations of therms tracking error with the inclusion of color coding.

Replicates R. The replicate factor was not sig-ni�cant. This result was expected because eachsubject achieved approximate asymptotic perfor-mance with each condition before data collection wasbegun.

Subject by noise interaction S � N. Thisinteraction, which is illustrated in �gure 7, was highlysigni�cant. Its signi�cance indicates that the e�ectof noise varied from subject to subject. For example,subject 3 exhibited large performance changes ac-cording to the number of noise sources, but subject 6had practically the same performance, regardless ofthe number of noise sources. The net e�ect, however,indicated that increasing the number of noise sourcesresulted in degradations in both the mean and thestandard deviations of the rms tracking error.

Subject by viewing mode interaction S � V.

This interaction, which is illustrated in �gure 8, washighly signi�cant. Its signi�cance indicates that thee�ect of viewing mode varied from subject to subject.For example, subject 3 exhibited large performancechanges according to the viewing mode, but subject 6had practically the same performance, regardless ofthe viewing mode. The net e�ect, however, indicatedthat compared with the nonstereo mode, the stereodepth did declutter the display and provide improvedperformance in the tracking task when stereo waspresent.

3

Subject by color coding interaction S � C.

This interaction, which is illustrated in �gure 9, washighly signi�cant. Its signi�cance indicates that thee�ect of color coding varied from subject to subject.The Newman-Keuls testing (ref. 27) of individualmeans was performed at a 1-percent signi�cancelevel, and only the mean performances of subjects 3and 4 were signi�cantly di�erent. Hence, the de-cluttering bene�ts of color coding were e�ective foronly two of the eight subjects.

Noise by viewing mode interaction N � V.

This interaction, which is illustrated in �gure 10,was highly signi�cant. Its signi�cance indicates thatthe e�ect of noise varied with viewing mode. Forthe nonstereo viewing mode, increasing the numberof noise sources resulted in degradations in boththe means and the standard deviations of the rmstracking error. However, the number of noise sourceshad little e�ect on the performance with the stereoviewing mode. The stereo viewing mode e�ectivelydeclutters the display by removing the noise sourcesto a depth separate from those of the tracking taskelements.

Viewing mode by color coding interaction

V � C. This interaction, which is illustrated in �g-ure 11, was signi�cant. Its signi�cance indicates thatthe e�ect of color coding varied with viewing mode.For the nonstereo viewing mode, improvements wereobtained in both the mean and the standard devia-tions of the rms tracking error with the inclusion ofcolor coding. However, the inclusion of color codinghad little e�ect on the performance with the stereoviewing mode. This mode e�ectively declutters thedisplay by separating in depth the target and track-ing symbols, thus eliminating any of the confusionbetween the two symbols. (Color coding attempts toremove this same confusion.)

Subject by noise by viewing mode inter-

action S � N � V. This third-order interaction,which is illustrated as two S �N interactions acrossV in �gures 12 and 13, was highly signi�cant. Its sig-ni�cance indicates, after further analysis, that mostof the e�ect of noise on subjects took place with thenonstereo viewing mode. For this mode, increasingthe number of noise sources resulted in degradationsin the mean rms tracking error for most of the sub-jects (�g. 12). However, the number of noise sourceshad little e�ect on the performance of most of thesubjects with the stereo viewing mode (�g. 13). Thisviewing mode e�ectively declutters the display by re-moving the noise sources to a depth separate fromthose of the tracking task elements.

Subject by noise by color coding interaction

S � N � C. This third-order interaction, whichis illustrated as two S � N interactions across C in�gures 14 and 15, was signi�cant. Its signi�canceindicates that most of the e�ect of noise on thosesubjects that were susceptible to noise took placeunder the condition in which color coding was absent.For this condition, increasing the number of noisesources resulted in degradations in the mean rmstracking error for most of the subjects (�g. 14).However, the number of noise sources had a smallere�ect on the performance of the susceptible subjectswith the condition in which color coding was present(�g. 15). Color coding was somewhat e�ective forsome of the subjects in decluttering the display.

Subjective Results

Unstructured subject comments recordedthroughout the experiment indicated that all the sub-jects preferred the stereo viewing mode. They feltthat the stereo depth placement of the various el-ements e�ectively decluttered the display by sepa-rating the tracking task from the noise sources andallowing awareness of the relative positions of thetarget and tracker. In the nonstereo viewing mode,most of the subjects said that it was not to di�cultto concentrate on the motion of the target and to re-spond with a tracker command, even without colorcoding to help reduce confusion with the tracker.

Concluding Remarks

The purpose of this research was to verify thepotential of stereo cueing for the declutter functionin a simulated tracking task. The piloting taskfor the study was designed to be similar to thetracking of a conventional ight director, althoughthe format presentation was intentionally chaoticand resulted in a very cluttered dynamic display.Elements purposely introduced into the display toprovide additional clutter included dynamic noisesources and the absence of color coding between thetarget and the tracker. It was hypothesized thatthe application of stereoptic cueing would e�ectivelydeclutter such a format.

The results from analyzing the performances ofeight subjects revealed that increasing the numberof noise sources did result in degradations in per-formance, thus indicating the successful addition ofclutter. The presence of color coding was used to pro-vide some declutter, thus making the task appear tobe more reasonable to perform. It was anticipatedthat subjects would have less di�culty separatingdisturbance inputs from their own control inputs inthis condition. The presence of color coding provided

4

some improvement in tracking performance, but theapparent decluttering bene�ts of color coding were

attributable to only two of the eight subjects.

The objective and subjective results for the stereo

presentations have consistently demonstrated it to be

an e�ective decluttering tool. Stereo cueing also ef-

fectively o�set the cluttering e�ects of both the noisecondition and the color coding condition. The num-

ber of noise sources had little e�ect on the perfor-

mance with the stereo viewing mode. This stereo

mode e�ectively decluttered the display by moving

the noise sources to a depth separate from thoseof the tracking task elements. Likewise, the inclu-

sion and exclusion of color coding had little e�ect

on the performance with the stereo viewing mode.

This stereo mode e�ectively decluttered the display

by separating in depth the target and tracking sym-bols, thus eliminating any of the confusion between

the two symbols.

The potential of stereo cueing to declutter com-

plex informational displays has therefore been veri-

�ed; this ability to declutter is an additional bene�t

from the application of stereoptic cueing.

NASA Langley Research Center

Hampton, VA 23681-0001January 31, 1994

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Pictorial Primary Flight DisplayWith PathwayAugmen-tation. A Collection of Technical Papers|AIAA/IEEE

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Task Test. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society

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ume 1, R. S. Jensen, ed., Ohio State Univ., 1989,pp. 233{238.

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fects on a Simulated Precision Rotorcraft \Hover-In Tur-

bulence" Task. A Collection of Technical Papers|AIAA

Flight Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit,

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Simulator Assessment of Trade-O�s Arising From Mix-

ture of Color Cueing and Monocular, Binoptic, andStereopsis Cueing Information. Technologies Today and

Tomorrow|Southeastcon '90 Proceedings, Volume 2,

IEEE, 1990, pp. 583{588.

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SimulatedRotorcraft. NASATP-2980, AVSCOMTR-90-

B-002, 1990.

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search Center in Stereo 3-D Pictorial Displays. Paperpresented at the 1990 Army Aviation Electronics Sympo-

sium, Army Aviation Assoc. of America (Asbury Park,

NJ), Sept. 11{13, 1990.

14. Parrish, RussellV.; Busquets, AnthonyM.; andWilliams,Steven P.: Recent Research Results in Stereo 3-D Picto-

rial Displays at Langley Research Center. Proceedings

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ference, 1990, pp. 529{539.

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5

16. Parrish, Russell V.; and Williams, Steven P.: Trade-O�sArising From Mixture of Color Cueing and Monocular,

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tion EngineersMeeting, 1990, pp. 44{53.

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6

Table 1. Experimental Condition

Subject Run Viewing mode Color coding Noise sources Replicate

1 1 Nonstereo Present 0 11 2 Nonstereo Present 2 1

1 3 Nonstereo Present 4 1






1 10 Nonstereo Absent 4 1


1 12 Nonstereo Absent 0 11 13 Nonstereo Absent 2 2





1 19 Stereo Present 0 1




1 23 Stereo Present 0 21 24 Stereo Present 4 2




1 28 Stereo Absent 4 11 29 Stereo Absent 2 1

1 30 Stereo Absent 0 1
















7

Table 1. Continued




























3 9 Nonstereo Absent 0 33 10 Nonstereo Present 4 1













8

Table 1. Continued











3 36 Stereo Present 4 34 1 Stereo Absent 0 1






























9

Table 1. Continued









































10

Table 1. Continued




























7 9 Nonstereo Present 0 37 10 Nonstereo Absent 4 1













11

Table 1. Concluded









































12

Table 2. Parameters for Disturbance Functions

24H(L) = GL

8Pk=1

Kk sin(!kn �t+ �L), where GL is screen gain,

n is discrete time interval number, and �t is 1/60 sec

35

(a) Parameters of eight sine waves

k !k, rad/sec Kk

1 0.35 1.0

2 0.70 �1.03 1.05 0.9

4 1.75 0.95 2.62 0.8

6 3.49 �0.67 6.28 �0.4

8 10.50 0.1

(b) Parameter of display elements

Element Color Axis L GL, screen units �L, rad

Target Red Vertical 1 1.4 0

Lateral 2 �1.4 5.23Noise 1 Green Vertical 3 1.4 2.09

Lateral 4 1.4 3.14Noise 2 Purple Vertical 5 1.4 4.19

Lateral 6 1.4 2.00Noise 3 White Vertical 7 1.4 3.50

Lateral 8 1.4 1.50Noise 4 Yellow Vertical 9 1.4 1.01

Lateral 10 1.4 2.75

13

Table 3. Summary of Analysis of Variance

Degrees of Signi�cancea

Factors freedom level

Subjects, S 7 **Noise, N 2 **

Viewing mode, V 1 **Color, C 1 *

Replicates, R 2 -

S �N 14 **S � V 7 **S �C 7 **N � V 2 **N �C 2 -

V �C 1 *S �N � V 14 **S �N � C 14 *N � V � C 2 -

Error 211

aSigni�cance:-Not signi�cant at levels considered.

*Signi�cant at 5-percent level.

**Signi�cant at 1-percent level.

14

Tracker (blue symbol)

Target (red symbol)

L-92-11517

Figure 1. Basic tracking task display.

Noise (white symbol)

Target (red symbol)

Noise (green symbol)

Tracker (blue symbol)

Noise (yellow symbol)

Noise (purple symbol)

L-92-11520

Figure 2. Addition of four noise sources to basic tracking task display.

15

Stereo depth positions

Noisesources

Tracker Target

Figure 3. Use of stereo depth to declutter tracking task display.

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

00 2 4

rmstracking

error,screen units

Noise sources

Figure 4. E�ect of adding noise sources on performance of tracking task.

16

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Nonstereo Stereo

rmstrackingerror,

screen units

Viewing mode

Figure 5. E�ect of viewing mode on performance of tracking task.

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Absent Present

rmstrackingerror,

screen units

Color coding

Figure 6. E�ect of color coding on performance of tracking task.

17

024

Noise sources

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Subject

rmstrackingerror,

screen units

Figure 7. E�ect of adding noise sources on performance of tracking task for each subject.

NonstereoStereo

Viewing mode

65

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Subject

rmstrackingerror,

screen units

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Figure 8. E�ect of viewing mode on performance of tracking task for each subject.

18

AbsentPresent

Color coding

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rmstrackingerror,

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Figure 9. E�ect of color coding on performance of tracking task for each subject.

60

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02 4

Noise sources

rmstrackingerror,

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NonstereoStereo

Viewing mode

Figure 10. E�ect of adding noise sources on performance of tracking task for each viewing mode.

19

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Viewing mode

rmstrackingerror,

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Figure 11. E�ect of color coding on performance of tracking task for each viewing mode.

024

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Figure 12. E�ect of adding noise sources on tracking task performance of each subject for nonstereo viewing

mode.

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Figure 13. E�ect of adding noise sources on tracking task performance of each subject for stereo viewing mode.

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Figure 14. E�ect of adding noise sources on tracking task performance of each subject for condition in which

color coding was absent.

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Figure 15. E�ect of adding noise sources on tracking task performance of each subject for condition in which

color coding was present.

22

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGEForm Approved

OMB No. 0704-0188

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources,gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of thiscollection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, toWashington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Je�ersonDavis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the O�ce of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188), Washington, DC 20503.

1. AGENCY USE ONLY(Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED

April 1994 Technical Paper

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

E�ective Declutter of Complex Flight Displays Using Stereoptic

3-D Cueing

6. AUTHOR(S)

Russell V. Parrish, Steven P. Williams, and Dean E. Nold

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

NASA Langley Research Center Joint Research Program O�ce

Hampton, VA 23681-0001 Command/Control and Sys. Integration Directorate

Communications Electronics Command

Langley Research Center

Hampton, Virginia 23681-0001

9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Washington, DC 20546-0001and

U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command

Fort Monmouth, NJ 07703-5603

5. FUNDING NUMBERS

WU 505-64-53-03PR IL162211AH85

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION

REPORT NUMBER

L-17308

10. SPONSORING/MONITORING

AGENCY REPORT NUMBER

NASA TP-3426CECOM TR-93-B-E-3

11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Parrish: Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Williams: Joint Research Program O�ce, C2SID-CECOM,Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Nold: Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN.

12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE

Unclassi�ed{Unlimited

Subject Category 05

13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)

The application of stereo technology to new, integrated pictorial display formats has been e�ective insituational awareness enhancements, and stereo has been postulated to be e�ective for the declutter ofcomplex informational displays. This paper reports a full-factorial workstation experiment performed toverify the potential bene�ts of stereo cueing for the declutter function in a simulated tracking task. Theexperimental symbology was designed similar to that of a conventional ight director, although the format wasan intentionally confused presentation that resulted in a very cluttered dynamic display. The subject's taskwas to use a hand controller to keep a tracking symbol, an \X," on top of a target symbol, another X, whichwas being randomly driven. In the basic tracking task, both the target symbol and the tracking symbol werepresented as red X's. The presence of color coding was used to provide some declutter, thus making the taskmore reasonable to perform. For this condition, the target symbol was coded red, and the tracking symbolwas coded blue. Noise conditions, or additional clutter, were provided by the inclusion of randomly moving,di�erently colored X symbols. Stereo depth, which was hypothesized to declutter the display, was utilized byplacing any noise in a plane in front of the display monitor, the tracking symbol at screen depth, and the targetsymbol behind the screen. The results from analyzing the performances of eight subjects revealed that thestereo presentation e�ectively o�sets the cluttering e�ects of both the noise and the absence of color coding.The potential of stereo cueing to declutter complex informational displays has therefore been veri�ed; thisability to declutter is an additional bene�t from the application of stereoptic cueing to pictorial ight displays.

14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES

Situational awareness enhancements; Declutter; Tracking symbol; Color coding 23

16. PRICE CODE

A0317. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION

OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT OF ABSTRACT

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Effective Declutter of Complex Flight Displays Using ...mln/ltrs-pdfs/tp3426.pdfypothesized to declutter the displa,y was utilized ( g. 3) y placing any noise in a plane in front of