FEASIBLE (I): The PC software package for feature evaluation and system inspection by logged experiments

FEASIBLE is an MS-DOS software package which can be used for the evaluation of: Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) components; diagnostic image quality; and image manipulation and representation techniques. The FEASIBLE software allows the user to design any psychophysical study in detail in the fields mentioned above, to execute an arbitrary number of sessions and to statistically analyse the results by way of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) technique. FEASIBLE consists basically of three modules: DESIGN, which allows the user to set up an experiment; EXECUTION, which allows the user to execute the experimental sessions based on the design entered in the DESIGN module and stored in the program's database; and, STATISTICS, which allows various statistical analyses on the data collected during the psychophysical sessions (including the calculation of ROC curves and related parameters) and can provide a graphical presentation of the results. FEASIBLE has been designed to support experts and those who have little knowledge of psychophysical experiments. This paper discusses the background, structure and possibilities of the FEASIBLE package at this point (version 1.2, May 1988).