| EW Environment Simulation
means injecting into an Electronic Warfare (EW) system a realistic mix
of pulsed and Continuous Wave (CW) RF signals such as the system might experience in a real-world radar
environment. Hardware units that create such
signal mixes are known as EW Environment Generators or simulators.
They are indispensable tools for developing and testing EW systems. Varilog has over
fourteen years of experience in EW environment simulation with contributions ranging from digital
hardware design and embedded processors to software development and full
simulator system integration and test. We
recently developed a revolutionary new Digital Generation technology which
breaks some old signal fidelity barriers while providing
high total pulse densities in the million-pulse-per-second range. The
VariGenTM
Modeling Advantage With VariGenTM
technology, an EW analyst has at his disposal two powerful techniques for
emitter description: the Basic Emitter Description Method, which is
suitable for most conventional radars, and the Segmented Emitter Description
method, which is adequate to describe phased-array radars and telemetry-type
emitters exhibiting Pulse Code Modulation. The
Basic Method is intuitive, easy to use, and allows efficient
interaction with the key parameters of an emitter mode all within a single
window. Using the Basic Method, the analyst specifies the
"type" of the emitter mode with respect to primary domains of PRI,
RF, Scan, and Modulation on Pulse (MOP). According to the
type-selections made, the editor software modifies the window to show the
other required or optional parameters implied by the type-selections. The
Segmented Emitter Description Method allows the analyst to describe an individual emitter mode
as moving rapidly through various patterns of PRI,
RF, pulsewidth, and scan. Scan segments can be timed independently
of PRI/pulsewidth or RF segments or, upon hitting their limits, can trigger
transitions of the non-scan segments. Conversely, PRI/pulsewidth or RF
segments can be set up to make transitions based either on time or
number of pulses output and optionally can be set to trigger scan segment transitions. Individual scan segments can be oriented relative to the host
platform's body axes or to a platform being tracked. Multiple
simultaneous beams are accommodated within the framework. In
addition, the framework allows systematic description PCM-type PRI patterns
such as seen in weapon-associated telemetry signals. This
method provides a fully graphical, flowchart-like presentation of the
emitter, with which the user interacts as though creating a block diagram. The
Segmented Emitter format makes it possible for a VariGenTM
simulator to create high-fidelity signal replicas of phased-array radars
exhibiting complex behaviors consistent with
such radars' track-while-scan functionality. Other radars using a
combination of mechanical scanning and beam-steering in elevation, with
coordinated changes in PRI and pulsewidth, can also be accurately modeled.
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