Simulating UAS: How Much Fidelity and Why?

The physical, functional, and operational fidelity of a simulation can impact design assessments, training device effectiveness, and the validity of research results done with desk-top simulators (or synthetic tasks). While difficult to quantify, fidelity issues need to be considered in each of these contexts as attempts are made to improve human system integration. This paper reviews some of the implications of fidelity, discusses current efforts to model the impacts training can have on performance, and outlines the kinds of empirical testing that could be done to compare Improved Performance Research Integration Tool (IMPRINT) model predictions of training impacts to actual performance