SBIR-STTR Award

Recent Airborne Tactical Laser (ATL) field testing demonstrated that high-energy laser (HEL)-induced obscurants could break the tracking systems lock on the aimpoint, negating the HEL attack. When an HEL engages a target surface, particles may be emitted from the surface that obscure the target, change the optical signature, and attenuate the beam on target due to scatter and absorption. State-of-the-art HEL simulations in use today do not include the effects of these obscurants in the synthetic scene generation, and therefore tracking algorithms cannot currently be tested against simulated scenes with these harmful artifacts. This makes designing track algorithms with modeling and simulation (M&S) tools ineffective, since the tools do not sufficiently challenge the track algorithms. We need a synthetic scene (in this case, ground vehicles with terrain and other backgrounds) with targets that emit a plume of particles when irradiated by an HEL. This plume must have the correct optical properties, such that the target signatures (including actively illuminated, HEL-band, and passive) are realistic.

Benefit:
The Phase I will result in delivering a technical report and code module that determine the feasibility of this approach to simulating synthetic scenery with HEL induced damage.

Keywords:
Laser, Damage, Hel, Material, Plume, Smoke, Atl

This effort entails theoretical development, software development, hardware implementation and testing to support the objectives of generating realistic synthetic scenes for use across the defense community in order to adequately test and evaluate aimpoint maintenance and track algorithms for High-Energy Laser (HEL) systems.

Benefit:
As HEL weapon systems mature, 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.

Keywords:
Synthetic Scenery, Tracking, Hel Ablation, Modeling And Simulation, Aimpoint Maintenance