Innovative Approach for Modeling the Impact of Paint Gloss on Visual and Near IR Detection

NAVAIR PMAs are motivated by substantial maintenance cost savings to switch aircraft paints from matte to glossy. Yet NAVAIR must confidently weigh these major cost savings against possibly serious survivability penalties from sun glints. To definitively answer these survivability trades, we propose to develop, apply, deliver and provide NAVAIR training for our GLint Assessment with SPIRITS (GLASS) Toolset. We will initially validate two modeling approaches: a SPIRITS-only approach and a hybrid approach using SPIRITS+Zemax. These 2 approaches conform to our desires to retain NAVAIRs investment in SPIRITS, with no changes to SPIRITS itself, with minimal or no investment in model development. Our hybrid approach exploits the individual strengths of SPIRITS and Zemax, thus avoiding substantial signature model development and capability replication within either baseline code in the absence of the other. Our Phase 1 Base effort will validate the directional and radiometric prediction accuracy of these alternative modeling approaches. Our Phase 1 Option effort will acid-test both approaches for suitability and tractability against realistic complex geometries, using a COTS curved-surface surrogate model of the CH-53E. We will also establish a feasible roadmap, compatible with likely sources and our geometry workflow capabilities, for acquiring the actual CH-53K geometry during Phase 2.