The visual detectability analysis associate

The outcome of this work is a knowledge-based associate ergonomic tool that assists in determining visibility of stationary small objects critical to the work environment. The Luchlesh and Moss detection solid, a design handbook guideline, accounts for non-search visibility in terms of three fundamental variables — visual angle, brightness and contrast. To reduce the difficulty of using the solid in its current form, this effort first quantified the empirical relationships of the solid. The intelligent system building tool, Exsys, was then employed: (1) to convert the results into rules for a knowledge base, and (2) to generate a tool called the Visual Detectability Analysis Associate. An efficient, convenient and easy to use ergonomic design tool is now available that determines visibility of small stationary objects in work environments where viewing time may be limited, but visual search is not required. In current use by a company to solve visibility problems encountered in system design, the VDAA tool has demonstrated beneficial savings in both time and effort.