3D representation of electromagnetic environment on irregular terrain

3D representation of the electromagnetic environment is one of the most important research fields in virtual battle space. This paper presents a novel approach on visualizing the 3D electromagnetic environment by rendering multiple layers of isosurfaces. The Longley-Rice radio propagation model, which takes into account the effects of irregular terrain and atmosphere, is used to calculate the 3D power volume data. Then the multi-layer isosurfaces are extracted from the power volume data. In order to improve the performance, this approach uses Graphic Process Unit (GPU) to accelerate the multi-layer isosurfaces extraction simultaneously. At last, the multi-layer isosurfaces are rendered on irregular terrain by assigning different color and opacity to each isosurface depending on the viewpoint. This approach represents not only the 3D electromagnetic environment on irregular terrain, but also the inner detail of power volume data which the traditional single isosurface rendering method did not show. Thus it provides excellent decision supporting and plan-aiding for users.