This study aimed to determine perceptual advantages of multiband sensor-fused imagery over conventional single-band nighttime imagery for a wide range of visual tasks associated with military and civil aviation, including detection, orientation, and scene recognition. Participants were 151 active-duty military observers whose reaction time and accuracy scores were recorded during a visual search task. Data indicates that sensor fusion did not improve performance relative to that obtained with single-band imagery on a target detection task, but did facilitate object recognition, judgments of spatial orientation, and scene recognition. Observers' recognition and orientation judgments were improved by the emergent information within the image-fused imagery. Actual or potential applications of this research are provided and discussed. (Author/publisher)
Abstract