Digital Receiver Geolocation Technology Simulation

Recent digital receiver technology developments have transformed receivers such as RWRs from “warning only” to “situational awareness” assets. Two key capabilities for these systems are the abilities to develop more detailed identifications of the radars (specific emitter identification [SEI]) in the environment and to geolocate those radars. More sophisticated digital receiver RWRs and the like, benefit from the increased parameterization of the electronic environment. Geolocation software is based upon the comparison of captured parameters to each other and to aircraft navigation system position information. This increased sophistication of systems and system interaction have serious implications for the test community as present Air Force RWR test philosophy calls for complete end-to-end laboratory tests of all RWR capabilities before installation on an airframe for ground and flight testing. Successful end-to-end tests for this equipment will depend upon simulators that generate signals of much higher fidelity that currently available today. Higher fidelity simulators with SEI and geolocation capabilities are required. This SBIR Phase I program will research requisite geolocation parameters and develop fundamental architectures for simulation development so that cost effective laboratory geolocation simulation together with SEI can reduce the need for costly flight tests.