To provide target image sufficiency guidelines for ground-based flight training simulators, a detection experiment examined the relative effects of contrast, resolution, and brightness on the simulated distance at which subjects could determine the orientation of another aircraft. With high resolution, luminance contrast of 25:1 produced better performance than lower contrasts. The performance at the best contrast condition was 40% better than at the poorest, whereas the best resolution condition produced only 20% better performance than the poorest. In three identical contrast conditions, higher luminance levels results in slightly better performance. In the best experimental condition, average aspect recognition thresholds for the TA-41 aircraft occurred at simulated distances > 4 miles (6.44 km), whereas in the most degraded condition, average thresholds occurred at simulated distances of 1.5 miles (2.415 km).
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