Missile System Modeling in a Distributed Virtual Environment

Abstract

In April 2003, The U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) conducted an experiment called the First Application (1^stApp), using a distributed virtual environment across a wide area network. The two objectives of this HLA-based distributed simulation were to establish a modeling and simulation cost/schedule/performance baseline for the development of a target distributed virtual environment for Future Force technical experimentation and to match tactics to physics to produce realistic expectations of the technical performance of networked fires for the U.S. Army Future Combat Systems (FCS). The core set of models and simulations for this event was developed and provided by the networked fires using Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) Science and Technology Objective (STO). In particular, NLOS-LS developed models and virtual simulations of the NLOS-LS missiles and Mission Management Application (MMA), including modeling of the LADAR seeker on the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) and the man-machine interfaces to display and utilize LADAR imagery in the battlefield context.

This paper describes the LADAR models, missile flight models, MMA virtual simulations, LADAR visualization, and networked fires context that was used to represent NLOS LS in the 1^stApp event. It also describes the distributed virtual environment and the simulation architecture that was used to represent the networked fires functionality, through the integration of simulations from a variety of organizations within the RDE Command.