ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one type of nonliteral imagery; nighttime imagery obtained by electronic sensors. Typically, these sensors are either infrared detectors or image intensifiers. The chapter explains the need for behavioral assessment of perceptual performance with artificial imagery and explores the findings of performance assessment to date with nighttime imagery. It highlights the need for much more research that draws upon the expertise of the sensor engineers and scientists and human factors psychologists and psychophysicists. The chapter considers the nature of multiple-sensor systems. It examines the display of multiple-sensor images, and addresses the complexities created by sensor fusion—including the potential loss of image information—and constraints placed on the effectiveness of fusion by the nature of human visual processing. The chapter provides an overview of some of the diverse approaches to fusing this type of imagery by various researchers.
