MULTISPECTRUM GUIDANCE TARGET GENERATORS

THE CURRENT METHODOLOGY OF MULTISPECTRAL HARDWARE-IN-THE-LOOP (HWIL) TARGET SIMULATION IS TO MECHANICALLY POSITION AN IR/RF TARGET HEAD VIA A ROBOT, FOR INSTANCE, LOCATED IN A LARGE ANECHOIC CHAMBER. THE TARGET HED INCLUDES AN IR POINT SOURCE PLUS A THREE (OR FOUR) ELEMENT ANTENNA ARRAY TO SIMULATE TARGET RADAR RETURN, INCLUDING EFFECTS OF GLNT AND DISTRIBUTED TARGETS. THE SEEKER-UNDER-TET (SUT) IS MOUNTED ON 3-AXIS FLIGHT TABLE. THE DEFICIENCIES OF THIS APPROACH INCLUDE: 1) NEED FOR EXPENSIVE ANECHOIC CHAMBER, 2) DYNAMIC/FOV LIMITATION DICTATED BY TARGET POSITIONER (ROBOT), AND 3) DIFFICULTY TO MODEL IR EXTENDED TARGETS. AN APPROACH CONSISTING OF DUAL MODE (IR/RF) TARGET HEAD WHICH CAN BE MOUNTED ON AN OUTER 2-AXIS GIMBAL OF A 5-AXIS FLIGHT TABLE IS RESEARCHED. THIS INCLUDES A STATE-OF-THE-ART VARIABLE APERTURE IR SCENE GENERATOR TO MODEL DISTRIBUTED TARGETS, DIPLEXED WITH A COINCIDENT NEAR FIELD CORRECTED RADAR SCENE. BLOCK DIAGRAMS OF COMPLETE MULTISPECTRAL HWIL SIMULATORS ARE DEVELOPED AND DISCUSSED.