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MISCELLANEOUS
The Armed Forces-National Research Council Vision CommitteeHistory 1944-1949 and Description of Organizational Structure 1955 This report gives background and details on the origins of the Com- mittee on Vision, its early objectives, and its activities during the war years. In early 1944, informal contacts between officers of the Army and the Navy revealed mutual concern with military problems, whose solution involved detailed information of human visual capacity. It was suggested that a joint military committee on vision would prove valuable in organizing existing information and experience and in coordinating further research programs undertaken by the military services. In addition, it was agreed that the knowledge and experience of civilian specialists should be brought to bear on the visual problems. As a result of these informal discussions, a request was submitted by the Army and Navy and to the Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) for the establishment of a formal vision committee. The Army-Navy-OSRD Vision Committee was organized in response to this request. A full-time civilian executive secretary was appointed and office quarters were arranged in the National Academy of Science building in Washington. Official Army and Navy members of the committee were designated to represent organizational units of the services, and civilian scientists with professional competence in some aspect of visual science were offically appointed from OSRD. The first meeting of the committee was held in Washington on April 7, 1944. Twelve additional meetings were held prior to the end of the war in August 1945. Meetings of the committee were planned to encourage service person- nel to present problems concerned with vision for consideration. Military members contributed their practical experiences and the results of research investigations they had conducted relevant to the problems. The OSRD representatives gave professional counsel and also reported current experi- mental results. The objective of the committee was to provide opportunity for free and complete discussion of problems; the committee meetings provided the mechanism for Laison between military personnel having full appreciation of the problems and scientific experts with competence in general and theoretical aspects of vision research. Some estimate of the committee's influence during the war years may be obtained by examining sample topics presented for discussion by the military members during this period. A list of such topics is presented 1a7
below specific reference to the minutes and proceedings of the committee meetings. 1. Visual standards for military service and standardization of proce- dures for visual examination. 2. Procedures for visual training, including lookout training, recogni- tion training, and night vision training. 3. Solution of visibility problems including camouflage, visibility of markers, signals, ships, aircraft, submerged objects, insignia, and visibility in night ground, air, and sea operations. 4. Principles of instrument design for efficient presentation of visual information. 5. Specifications of illumination quantity and quality for instruments and working surfaces in order to secure optimum performance and preserve dark adaptation. 6. Physiological effects on vision, including the effects of anosmia, pos- itive acceleration, and ultraviolet and infrared radiation. 7. Principles of optical design and specification for optical equipment such as sunglasses, sunscreening goggles, dark-adaptation goggles, binoculars, telescopes, height-finders, and range finders. 50 pp. no figures no tables topical index of minutes and proceedings Availability: National Technical Information Service ~IS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. 108
Information Requirements for the Control of Combat Forces J.W. Gebhard and R.~ Hanes, Editors 1959 A working group was established by the Committee on Vision with an interest in the visual display area. The field encompassed by the visual display of information is an exceedingly broad one, which draws on physiological, psychological, and engineering resources. The working group's tasks were as follows: 1. Determination of Armed Forces display requirements. 2. Analysis and classification of display requirements. 3. Compilation of display concepts and techniques. 4. Guidance for R&D work in visual displays, and S. Measurement standards. This proceedings volume is the result of a conference held on June 24-26, 1959, during which representatives of the several services presented requirements for the display data used in making command decisions. The military presentations and the ensuing discussion are of general interest, both from the standpoint of decision making and the displays upon which decisions are based. These proceedings are published in two parts: one is an unclassified summary and the other is the complete report, including the summary, which is classified secret (see Inquiry Into Methods Used to Obtain Military Information Requirements). 14 pp. 2 figures no tables 1 reference Availability: Committee on Vision, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Wash- ington, D.C. 20418. 109
Inquiry Into Methods Used to Obtain Military Information Requirements 1960 In 1958 a working group was established to ascertain what contri- bution the committee might have to research and development programs concerned with the visual display of data. The procedure adopted by the working group to accomplish this is briefly as follows: 1. Determination of Armed Forces Data Presentaiion Requirements. ~ obtain the requirements of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps for current and future visual displays and to supplement these by requirements of the Federal Aviation Agency, the Weather Bureau, and other potential users of visual displays. 2. Analysis and Classification of Data Presentation Requirements. 1b analyze significant data presentation requirements in order to provide a preliminary basis for classifying visual display needs, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of present and proposed research and development pro- grams in the visual display area. 3. Compilation of Display Concepts and TechnuIues. 1b survey the field of visual displays for the purpose of establishing a file of past, present, and future concepts and methodology and a list of techniques and equipment. 4. Guidance for Research and Development Work u' Visual Displays. 1b delineate areas for new work on visual displays based on the analyses and compilations discussed above. The methods currently available for determining data requirements for any system are described in Part I of this report. Part II is an assessment of their merits. Part III describes a procedure that is recommended at the present time and until much more experimental data are available (see Information Requirements for the Control of Combat Forces). 28 pp. no figures 1 table 7 references Availability: National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. 110
Visual Problems of the Armed Forces Milton ~ Whitcomb, Editor 1962 The purpose of this report on visual problems of the Armed Forces is to bring together the scientific papers that were presented at the Committee on Vision's meeting on March 30-31, 1961, at the Smithsonian Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Presentations were scheduled in four subject-matter sessions: vision under reduced stimulus conditions; perceptual problems of space travel; pictorial display for reconnaissance interpretation; and visual processes and problems of battlefield surveillance in ground warfare. Papers presented in this report are the following: "Review of Recent Literature on Night Vision Testing," J.S. Kinney; "Contrast Thresholds as a Function of Retinal Position and Target Size for the Light-Adapted Eye," J.H. Taylor; "The Problem of Motion Perception and Orientation in the Ganzfeld," J.W. Miller and R.J. Hall; "The Electrophysiological Correlates of Vision in a Uniform Visual Field," D.~. Tepas; "The Apparent Frontopar- allel Plane, Stereoscopic Correspondence and Induced Cyclorotation of the Eyes," G.S. Harker; "A Concept of Space Ravel and Operations," R.P. Hav- iland; "Vision and the Mercury Capsule," OR. Jones and W.H. Hann, Jr.; "Extant Perceptual Theories and the Perceptual World of Space Flight," W. Bevan; "Photographic Image Quality," G.~ Fly; "Viewing Equipment for the Photographic Interpreter," V. Van Keuren; "Image Enhancement as an Aid to Reconnaissance Interpretation," R.E Andrea; "In-Flight Pictorial Interpretation," C.W. Simon; "Goals, Problems, and Systems of Combat Sulveillance in the U.S. Army," Kin Ward; "Problems in the Display and Utilization of Numerous Classes of Battlefield Information," F.J. Harris; "Problems in Meeting Future Combat Surveillance Display Requirements," R.P. DeVoe and J.E. Hoagbin; "Problems in the Design of Sensor Output Displays," S.W. Smith; "Requirements for Research on Psychological Fac- tors in Image Interpretation," J. Zeidner; and "Requirements for Research on Uses of the Unaided Eye in the Collection of Battlefield Information," F.H. Thomas. 193 pp. 86 figures 13 tables 116 references Availability: National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. 111
Survey of Visual Research Literature on ~lita~y Problems During World War IT . Lewis O. Harvey, Jr. 1970 World War II research papers, reports, and meeting agenda originating in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States were collected by the Committee on Vision at the end of the war. Classified during the war, these papers remained largely disregarded in the following years. The purpose of this report is to bring to public attention this ma- teriaL The following topics are covered: night vision, target visibility, aircraft recognition training, visual standards and pilot performance, tank telescopes, dazzle, optical aids, and camouflage. The papers of Kenneth Craik, who was intensively active during the war making contributions to a number of committees and solving a wide range of problems, are also covered. Critical comments and evaluations are given along with updating of the material when feasible. 392 pp. 112 figures 13 tables 404 references Ava`Iabil~y: National Technical Information Seance ~S), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. 112
