Evaluatie van de YPR-765 rijsimulator en voorstel voor een aangepast leertraject [Evaluation of the update program of the YPR-765 driving simulator and consequences for the training program]

At the Armor Infantry Driving Education Center (PIROC) of the Royal Dutch Army, a new full-scale training simulator for YPR-765 drivers has been installed. Because this simulator showed for many subtasks differences with the same subtasks performed on the operational tracked vehicle, it was expected that the training potentialities would be limited more than formerly was aimed at. Therefore this simulator was subjected to an improvement program. This program was poncerned with improvement of the control environment, the visual and mechanical movement information, sound, and vibrations. Also a new visual and mechanical database was modelled by the Royal Dutch Army in cooperation with the IZF-TNO. The present report evaluates the results of this operation and gives an inventory of the resting problems. The simulator appeared to be improved in many respects. Serious limitations still exist in the visual information ("eye height illusion", limited side and vertical view, absence of mirrors), in the mechanical movement feedback, in the auditive information, and in the vibrations. Furthermore, adequately bringing in other traffic is almost impossible, and the crash-feed-back is inadequate. It is concluded that the present simulator enables effective training of a substantial part of driving on metalloid subsoil. This entails: all procedures, driving on straight roads, stopping, driving in different gears, driving on curved roads, turning, driving bacriving backwards, obstacles, driving with an image amplifier, driving on visual signals, driving with closed hatch. There is more uncertainty with respect to special actions and driving on sharp curves and intersections. This is due to limitations in the visual information (eye height illusion, limited side view, absence of mirrors), in the mechanical movement feedback (dynamic vehicle model), in the auditive information, and in the vibrations. Training effort for unusual circumstances, driving in traffic, and especially terrain driving should be minimized. Based on these con-clusions, a training program is presented that takes into account the possibil-ities and limitations of the YPR-765 driving simulator.