DIGITAL TERRAIN DATABASE RESOLUTION AND ACCURACY ANALYSIS

THE DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY (DMA) HAS SEVERAL EXISTING AND PROTOTYPE DIGITAL DATA PRODUCTS WHICH HAVE DIFFERING RESOLUTIONS AND ACCURACIES THAT CAN OFFER INCREASED MISSION PLANNING, TARGET ACQUISITION AND NAVIGATION CAPABILITY. THE PROCESS OF GENERATING DIGITAL PRODUCTS WITH HIGH RESOLUTION AND ACCURACY IS SLOW AND EXTREMELY LABOR INTENSIVE. HIGH RESOLUTION PRODUCTS WILL INCREASE DATA STORAE AND COMPUTATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. THE NET INCREASE IN MISSION CAPABILITY MUST BE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF A TRADE OFF BETWEEN HIGH RESOLUTION AND ACCURACY AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES. THE SURVIVABILITY OF SCOUT AND ATTACK HELICOPTERS IN MANY SCENARIOS DEPENDS ON AN ACCURATE PREDICTION OF THE REQUIRED POP UP HEIGHT AND TARGET LOCATION TO MINIMIZE EXPOSURE TIME. PSR WILL DEVELOP A COMPUTER MODEL TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF ACCURACY OF A DIGITAL TERRAIN DATABASE (DTD) ON LINE-OF-SIGHT (LOS) COVERAGE PREDICTION CAPABILITY. PSR WILL PERFORM SENSITIVITY ANALYST USING DTDS HAVING VARIOUS ACCURACIES AND USING A SERIES OF PLATFORM ALTITUDES AND PLATFORM-TO-TARGET RANGES. THE RESULTS WILL BE COMBINED TO MAKE A DETERMINATION OF THE BENEFIT OF EACH PRODUCT EXAMINED AND DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MODEL IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS. PSR WILL SUMMARIZE THE EFFORT IN FINAL REPORT.