A GENERALIZED STRESS PARAMETER METHODOLOGY FOR THE SIMULATION FIDELITY EVALUATION OF SDI SYSTEM UGTS

DESIGNING A NUCLEAR SURVIVABLE, MILITARY SYSTEM DOES NOT CONSIST ONLY OF PUTTING TOGETHER "HARD" SYSTEM COMPONENTS. THE SUBSYSTEM AND SYSTEM MUST BE TESTED TO VERIFY HARDNESS. GIVEN THE DIFFICULT IN SIMULATING NUCLEAR ENVIRONMENTS, HARDNESS VERIFICATION IS PROBABLY THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF A SYSTEM NUCLEAR SURVIVABILITY PROGRAM. IN ADDITION, SPECIFYING SYSTEM COMPONENT HARDENING REQUIREMENTS CANNOT REALLY BE SEPARATED FROM THE TESTING PROGRAM. THERE ARE ALWAYS CONSTRAINTS LIMITING FUNDS, AND THE SYSTEM WEIGHT AND VOLUME WHICH CAN BE DEVOTED TO NUCLEAR HARDENING. THE LUXURY OF LARGE HARDENING MARGINS DOES NOT EXIST. UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, SYSTEM TESTING AND SYSTEM HARDENING ARE INEXTRICABLY BOUND. GIVEN THE DIFFICULTY IN SIMULATING THE THREAT ENVIRONMENT AND THE HARDENING MARGIN LIMITATIONS, AN IMPORTANT ISSUE IS HOW TO DEFINE AND EVALUATE THE UGT TESTS WHICH WILL ADEQUATELY VERIFY SYSTEM HARDNESS. THE QUESTION HAS NEVER BEEN ANSWERED SYSTEMATICALLY AND A DEFINITE NEED EXISTS. THIS PROPOSAL SUGGESTS A METHODOLOGY FOR ANSWERING THAT QUESTION: THE GENERALIZED STRESS PARAMETER METHODOLOGY (GPSM).