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Abstract
The effects of ship motion on a range of typical manual control skills were examined on the Warren Spring ship motion simulator driven in heave, pitch and roll by signals taken from the frigate H MS Avenger at 13m/s(25 knots) into a force 4 wind. The motion produced a vertical r.m.s. acceleration of 0024g, mostly between 01 and 0-3 Hz, with comparatively little pitch or roll. A task involving unsupported arm movements was seriously affected by the motion; a pursuit tracking task showed a reliable decrement although it was still performed reasonably well (pressure and free-moving tracking controls were affected equally by the motion); a digit keying task requiring ballistic hand movements was unaffected. There was no evidence that these effects were caused by sea-sickness.
The differing response to motion of the different tasks, from virtual destruction to no effect, suggests that a major benefit could come from an attempt to design the man/control interface on board ship around motion resistant tasks.
