Advanced Sensor Simulation and Evaluation Testbed

Space-based remote sensing and surveillance is an important on-going mission for the Air Force. As the development of sensor technology advances, it is crucial that the tools available to the system designer are equal to the task of leveraging the monetary and human resources invested in RDT&E sensor programs. There is a need for a tool to allow the systems designer to identify critical path technologies, explore design alternatives, and to evaluate system performance. A dynamic simulation that models the sensors and the space vehicle, as well as the environment in which they operate, will ease the development workload required for the next-generation of space-based sensor systems. We are proposing a workstation-based sensor simulation testbed to provide a framework for the integration of multiple sensor simulations, a dynamic spacecraft simulation, and background scene generation. Phase I will assess the feasibility of our approach and, in so doing, provides a software and hardware architecture for an Advanced Sensor Simulation and Evaluation Testbed (ASSET). Phase II will implement a prototype ASSET and evaluate its performance.