| Objective: | Develop an interactive synthetic scene generation capability for evaluating a tracking and pointing algorithm for tactical HEL engagements.
| Description: | The warfighter continues to have a need for High-Energy Laser (HEL) weapon systems on airborne platforms for tactical applications (i.e., the engagement of targets on the ground). For these weapon systems, a tracking algorithm is necessary to maintain the pointing of the laser to a specific aimpoint on the target for a prolonged amount of time. Recent field tests of these weapons have revealed a disparity between the simulated performance of the target tracking algorithm and the actual field performance of the algorithm. A contributor to this disparity is that during a field test the tracker sensor receives a signal that is not included in the simulation. This signal results from the incidence of the HEL on the target, and may be composed of the reflection of the HEL from the target, blackbody radiation from the HEL-heated target, or radiation due to ignition at the target. The absence of this signal from simulation is simply due to a lack of an effective target scene model.
Therefore, as HEL weapon systems emerge, there is a growing need to simulate the complex interactions of the HEL and the target in the context of a closed-loop tracking system. A high-fidelity synthetic scene generation capability would allow the robustness of the proposed system's tracking and pointing performance to be explored in a more cost-effective manner. It is therefore desirable to demonstrate an integrated synthetic scene generation tool that works in-line with the pointing and tracking control system models. This scene generation should account for all significant phenomena that contribute to the tracking problem, including wave-optics level atmospheric effects on both HEL's and illuminator lasers, target speckle, backgrounds and clutter, and multi-band scene radiometry. The scene generation should support the simulation of relevant sensor signatures of the scene, including both active and passive optical sensors.
The effort required for Phase I is to research and develop a synthetic scene generation capability that supports the simulation of closed-loop active and passive tracking, including the hot spot / damage effects of the HEL engaging the target. The scenes should be general enough to interface with existing atmospheric propagation and tracking algorithms.
| | PHASE I: The synthetic scene generating capability produced for Phase I should be able interface with a wave optics algorithm to both receive simulated irradiance of the laser on the target, and provide multi-band scene radiometry for propagation back to the track sensor.
| | PHASE II: Transition the prototype model from Phase I into a deliverable software tool with sufficient documentation and testing to be used by non-expert programmers.
| | PHASE III
| | DUAL USE COMMERCIALIZATION:
Military Application: The development and evaluation of LIDAR sensors, Phased Array approaches, and other speckle-based imaging schemes would benefit from a simulation including high-fidelity synthetic target scenes.
Commercial Application: The evaluation of imaging and pattern recognition schemes for robotic machinery would benefit from this high-fidelity synthetic scene generation capability.
| References: | 1. Cathcart, J.M. and A.D. Sheffer, "Target and background infrared signature modeling for complex synthetic scenes," Proceedings of the SPIE, Infrared Systems and Components II, Vol. 890, 1988.
2. Byrnes, A.E. and J.R. Schott, "Correction of thermal imagery for atmospheric effects using aircraft measurements and atmospheric modeling techniques," Applied Optics, Vol. 25, No. 15, 1986.
| | Keywords: | Laser, HEL, Scene Generation, Tracking & Pointing, Simulation |