This study assessed the advantages of a color-coded weapons symbology for a helmet-mounted display (HMD) over monochrome symbology by measuring military pilots' performance while they flew air-to-air combat in a simulator. Twelve volunteer military pilots from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden participated. Ten pilots had experience with head-up displays, four had in-flight HMD experience, and nine had air-to-air missile launch experience. The pilots fired missiles significantly sooner without sacrificing probability of kill when using the color-coded symbology, demonstrating a substantial practical benefit of color. Actual or potential applications of this work include the design of color codes for helmet-mounted and other displays that use complex symbology to assist performance on cognitively challenging tasks.
Abstract