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GPS-based guidance aids have become popular in recent years. Most systems use a horizontal array of LEDscalled a lightbarto indicate lateral error to machinery operators. Discussions with retailers and observations of operators led to the idea that a lightbar for the operators peripheral vision may improve effectiveness of the system. A lightbar consisting of larger lighted elements was constructed to test this hypothesis.

The peripheral lightbar was tested against a regular lightbar in a simulated field-spraying task. Mental workload principles were used to devise a testing methodology. Subjects steered better with the peripheral lightbar (p<0.001) and expressed a preference for the peripheral lightbar.