Acoustic Modeling Atmospheric Variability Study - 06/24/08
BRRC wins contract to enhance an existing noise model with a four dimensional weather model to enable a relation between changes in weather and variation of sound levels.
Background
Acoustic signatures radiating to the ground enable the enemy to aurally detect, locate, and classify inbound U.S. tactical aircraft. This has become a critical limiting factor hindering engagement with the enemy as well as threatening aircraft and crew survivability. Multi-Service and multi-agency requirements exist to study the problem and to develop countermeasures, yet no capability currently exists to adequately assess the vulnerability.
Purpose
To address these applications, a modular system of acoustical tools is proposed to integrate the physical factors controlling the propagation of the acoustical signatures on the battlefield. First and foremost, this system will provide a prediction of the noise from a source to a receiver location. The primary factors in these uncertainties are the atmospheric conditions since they generate the most variation in the received signal. Each of these factors has current and on-going development, which will be leveraged for the proposed system. However, the integration and interaction of the uncertainties is required for accurate determination of detection risk and also for the identification of enemy movements.
Approach
BRRC will leverage existing propagation algorithms, acoustic detection algorithms, and weather model data and combine them into a simple interface for testing. This will allow the perturbation of the model with various weather inputs and ground surface changes to determine the sensitivity of the model. The ultimate goal is to better understand how errors propagate through the system to limit the precision of the probability of detection. |
