Relative targeting architectures for captive-carry HIL missile simulator experiments

Captive-carry electronic warfare (EW) tests evaluate the response of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) missile seekers to an actual environment (test-range) including the presence of electronic attack. This paper describes a relative targeting architecture that displays the test-range results in geodetic coordinates using only the sensors available on board the captive-carry platform (GPS, INS, seekers). To derive the target position in geodetic coordinates, a lever-arm correction process is described that determines the position of each seeker and the corresponding pitch and yaw of the simulator. Combining the positional parameters of the seeker with its targeting variables, the seeker track point is displayed in geodetic coordinates, A track tagging algorithm is presented to identify the true target from the EW disruption using the drift angle from the inertial navigation system (INS), To eliminate the scintillation noise present in the track image, a Kalman filter in sensor coordinates is applied to the targeting variables allowing optimization of the track tagging. Experimental results from a recent EW field test using antiship cruise missile simulators are shown to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach for determining EW effectiveness in near real-time. Targeting accuracy is also quantified by comparing the derived target position with the true Global Positioning System (GPS) test-range position of the ship in the absence of electronic attack.