Adaptive use of training aids to improve operators' performance in manual tracking

Abstract

Research in manual tracking can be broadly divided into two fields, viz. modelling of the human operator and the use of performance enhancing aids. Little or no research exists on the interface of these two broad fields of work, and in addition, little work exists on the effective use of training aids or minimizing the training duration. This paper proposes a Fuzzy Training Aids Management System (FTMS), that is developed to analyze and monitor the performance of a human operator. The FTMS uses a training aid in the form of a directional arrow and its length is proportional to the tracking error, and exaggerated to induce the human operator to be more industrious and responsive. The results obtained indicate that the FTMS is effective in reducing the training duration and it can gradually eliminate the exaggeration factor and the refresh rate of the directional arrow, without any serious compromise in performance.