Battlefield Enviornment Laser Radar Modeling Tool

Due to advances in technology and decreasing costs, LADAR systems are becoming a more common tactical element of Future Combat Systems. This presents a need for developing approaches and processes that optimally exploit the use of LADAR sensors in the battlefield environment. Models and simulations of sensor performance in realistic scenarios are essential tools for developing these utilization processes. Areté Associates proposes to develop a flexible, user-friendly modeling and simulation tool for high-fidelity LADAR performance assessments in a battlefield environment. This standalone software application will operate on standard PC platforms and will feature optimized C++ code designed around a modular architecture that supports high fidelity models with user-selectable fidelity/speed trade-offs. The simulation will feature realistic models of battlefield obscurants and clutter, such as fog, rain, smoke and foliage. It will provide the capability to conduct trade studies involving target acquisition performance including the effects due to weather, countermeasures, and battlefield obscurants and clutter. Performance measures such as range error and signal-to-noise ratio will be calculated. The tool will prove valuable for analyzing the effectiveness of LIDAR sensors in tactical UAV and missile systems, for example.