Human Systems Integration Division @ NASA Ames

Two experiments were conducted examining three-dimensional pursuit tracking when operators of teleoperation simulations are faced with misalignment between the display and control frames of reference.

Targets on the experimental displays moved irregularly in three dimensions and were tracked by subjects using either two 2-axis joysticks and a panel-mounted perspective display or, in a separate experiment, a hand-mounted, 6 degree-of-freedom electromagnetic sensor and a head-mounted, virtual image, stereoscopic display.

Analysis of the components of the tracking errors in the perspective display experiment showed that components of the error due to misalignment of the perspective projection may be linearly separated from those associated with the mismatch between display and control coordinate systems.

We observed evidence from both experimental conditions that the tracking improved with several hours practice. Differences between our results and previous results may be due to dynamical differences in the characteristics of the target and cursor and differences in tracking paradigm. The cause of the increased tracking error may be the users' processing time lags introduced by attempts to correct for the display-control misalignments.