Richard W. Obermayer’s scientific contributions

Simulation, models and games are analogies. They resemble in some way something else about which information is desired. We may therefore measure on the analogy instead of the real world objects. Critical dimensions of analogies are the level of abstraction and the fidelity of simulation, however, if the objective is to measure the most critical aspect is the validity of measurement. Unfortunately, validity is not always a practical concept. Since the objective of measurement is to derive information, simulation studies are analyzed with respect to information objectives in the attempt to derive criteria for measure selection.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the eye fixations as they occurred while flying instruments in two panel configurations. The first panel was equipped with vertical moving tape instruments; the second was equipped with round dial instruments. The study was conducted in a MBS Simulator with the flight-characteristics of a high performance jet aircraft. A standardized flight profile was used allowing comparison of both instrument panels across identical representative maneuvers. System performance measurements were taken during scoring periods for which a film record of the pilots' eyes were also taken. Thus the data collected in this study allows an analysis of system performance, eye movements, and the correlation of performance and eye movements for each combination of maneuvers and instrument panels.