Digital engineering framework for seeker model evaluation in hypersonic environments

Hypersonic vehicles provide the ability to pursue targets at very high speeds and long ranges, making them a critical offensive and defensive technology. As such, DoD has identified the ability to develop and field hypersonic missile systems as one of their top priorities. To achieve precision guidance for these vehicles, improved radar guidance systems are needed to meet the accuracy and rate requirements for target detection and recognition in high-speed flight. Design and evaluation of these radar systems is complicated by the harsh operating conditions associated with hypersonic weapons. High-speed flight causes aerothermal load induced deformation of the radome, material dielectric constant changes, and ablation of thermal protective systems (among other effects), which affect the transmission performance of the radome-antenna system. Computational modeling is key to addressing the design challenges associated with hypersonic radar seeker subsystems, because experimental testing is expensive and access to the few hypersonic facilities is competitive. To address these needs, the overall goal of this effort is to develop a Hypersonic Digital Engineering Testbed for Evaluating ConcepT Radars (HyDETECTR). The testbed will include high-fidelity engineering-level modeling and simulation tools to capture the aerothermal, aerothermoelastic, and electromagnetic effects on radar concepts. Integrated configurable modeling will be supported through interface and data standardization. Real-time approximation models will be trained through surrogate modeling to provide a rapid evaluation mechanism that can be used to integrate the hypersonic interference effects on the radar in engagement-level scenarios and vignettes. In Phase I, the framework will be developed for the engineering-level analysis. Feasibility and capability will be demonstrated via case studies of DoD interest. Phase II efforts will focus on capability extension, model optimization, engagement-level integration, extensive technology validation and insertion into Navy radar concept evaluation workflow.