The Utility of Head-Up Displays: Eye-Focus vs Decision Times

Abstract

Instrument-panel information is presented by a Head-Up Display (HUD) to pilots in such a way that the symbols appear far away (at optical infinity) superimposed upon the landscape. The use of a HUD makes it, therefore, unnecessary for the pilot to take his eyes off the changing scene in order to look down and refocus on the instrument panel. It is pointed out that the HUD has proved superior to the conventional instrument-panel display. An experiment was conducted with the objective to help to determine which of the differences between HUD and conventional instrument-panel display are mainly responsible for the superiority of the HUD. Important features of this experiment are that the format of each virtual-image display, its luminance, and its angle subtended at the eye, remained the same as the optical distance and location were varied. It was found that the HUD symbology at optical infinity does reduce decision times compared to the same format at the location of a conventional instrument panel.