Requirements Analysis for a Night Vision Device Driver Training Aid

Abstract

The use of night vision devices (NVDs), including image intensification (12) and infrared (IR) devices, has resulted in enhanced operations, increased mobility, and potentially safer operations by military drivers, but also has resulted in a higher exposure to the hazards of the night environment. Evidence suggests that many of the problems drivers are experiencing at night when driving with I2 devices are due to perceptual errors. Furthermore, skills using I2 devices are highly perishable but improve with frequent practice. This paper summarizes the procedures used to identify the functional requirements and training requirements for a Night Driving Training Aid (NDTA) and discusses the primary findings. The approach included an analysis of Army ground vehicle accidents, a review of the night vision goggle (NVG) technical and training literature, interviews with NVG subject matter experts @ME), an analysis of present and emerging NVG training technology, as well as an analysis of media (e.g., text, video images, embedded simulation) suitable for the PC-based approach directed by the sponsor. The findings indicate that the top-level objective of the NDTA should be to provide Army drivers with the opportunity for acquiring and improving their knowledge of NVG capabilities and limitations and their image interpretation skills. The findings suggest that critical perceptual skills to be trained in the NDTA include: detecting and determining the depth of depressions and ditches, judging vehicle distance and closure rates, detecting and estimating the distance to obstacles, detecting and estimating the distance to roadway edges, and recovering from exposure to bright light sources. We discuss lessons learned that may be applicable to other training development efforts and the challenges of training perceptual as opposed to procedural skills in a PC environment.In tasks such as aviation and radar operations, training often uses 3-dimensional (3D) representations of the airspace while the displays utilized in the operational environment depict the airspace in two dimensions. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine how training incorporating different display augmentation assists in the development of declarative knowledge about the spatial relationships between display elements. It was hypothesized that participants in the 3-dimensional display training groups would have better mental representations of the airspace and superior performance on the transfer task than participants in the 24mensional (2-D) display training groups. Forty-four participants were randomly assigned to one of four training interventions utilizing different display augmentation techniques (highlighting, perspective, pictorial realism or no augmentation) to represent the airspace. The transfer task was a 2-D radar simulation task in which formations of targets were selected, identified, and engaged Results of the analysis of questionnaire-based knowledge measures indicated that training that utilized 2-D highlighting augmentation wa...

The Human Factors of Night Vision Goggles

“…Dyer and Young (1998) provided a comprehensive review of the uses of NVGs for ground forces. Uses include aiming and shooting with the aid of NVGs (e.g., Angel, 2005; Dyer, Smith, & McClure, 1995), driving vehicles (e.g., Ruffner, Piccione, & Woodward, 1998; Tsimhoni & Green, 2002), dismounted infantry terrain traversal (e.g., Angel, 2004), and medical operations in combat conditions (Schwartz, 2001).…”

“…In addition, training is required for perceptual and cognitive skills in various tasks. Ruffner et al (1998) reported that the training of perceptual skills required when driving with NVGs included detecting and determining the depth of depressions and ditches, judging vehicle distance and closure rates, detecting and estimating the distance to obstacles and roadway edges, and recovering from exposure to bright light sources. Reising and Martin (1995) and Niall et al (1999) focused on training a very specific and critical perceptual skill of distance estimation.…”