{"302691":{"#nid":"302691","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GTRI Huntsville Works to Shorten Modeling and Simulation Testing","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) researchers are working with a Huntsville, Ala., company and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to test high-altitude missiles without ever firing a shot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAEgis Technologies, specialists in modeling and simulation, contracted GTRI\u2019s Applied Systems Laboratory to collaborate with MDA on testing high-altitude air defense missiles. ASL is in its second phase of a multi-year project utilizing \u201chardware-in-the-loop\u201d testing to enable more accurate modeling and simulation for its customer.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTesting a missile can be very expensive,\u201d said GTRI Senior Research Engineer and principal investigator Glenn Parker. \u201cAdditionally, because of the large number of control variables in a real exercise, it isn\u2019t technically feasible to get complete testing coverage. High-fidelity simulation addresses many of these concerns, but even with modern processors it can take days to compute the trajectory and heat signature of a complex ballistic target.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHardware-in-the-loop simulations use portions of the real missile hardware, such as the seeker, with any missing pieces made up by simulated components.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe use the missile\u2019s actual guidance system and manipulate simulated inputs to make the hardware think it is flying,\u201d Parker said. \u201cBy using real hardware in tests, confidence in the results is much higher than in fully simulated models. For non-reusable portions of the missile like the motor and warhead, the use of simulation models makes it possible to run thousands of test cycles without leaving the laboratory, and for less than the cost of one live test.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith current testing models, thermal signature databases must be computed offline prior to the test, and can take up to three days for a mere fifteen minutes of simulation time. Any alteration to the parameters\u2014altitude, weather, terrain, or even the position of the sun\u2014requires a total re-coding of the database. Testing a missile launch from Hawaii, for example, to intercept a target at a certain distance, altitude and speed takes a long time to calculate all of the missile hardware inputs that are used in the test.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat GTRI is working on, according to Parker, will enable the simulated components to be \u201clooped in\u201d for real-time calculation, eliminating the need for database computation ahead of time. Using off-the-shelf NVIDIA graphics cards, the group will work to provide the seeker with simulated thermally emissive ballistic targets heated by atmospheric effects in real time. The team will be using CUDA, NVIDIA\u2019s parallel computing architecture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur goal is to calculate and provide inputs at up to 200 Hz, which means simulated measurements are sent to the seeker unit 200 times each second,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThis will allow us to run dozens of tests in the amount of time we used to spend calculating data for a single run. Test parameters can be changed on the fly\u2014MDA will be able to run many more \u2018what if\u2019 scenarios before fielding a defense system.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAEgis Technologies in Huntsville is the prime contractor of the project. They will operate the Army-owned, hardware-in-the-loop test bed and generate scenarios for use in simulations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGTRI provides the expertise in real-time computing. Prior to this, AEgis had worked indirectly with GTRI\u2019s Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL) on the same program, which supported ultraviolet sensor testing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe selected GTRI based on what I knew of EOSL\u2019s capabilities, and their expertise in GPU technology,\u201d said AEgis Program Manager Dennis Bunfield. \u201cGTRI\u2019s CUDA expertise is a great value, and their expertise in verification and validation is invaluable.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe system will be scalable, and the plan is to take what they learn from this project and use it elsewhere in the defense industry. The thermal solver aspect of the project, for example, will be useful for any simulation requiring a real-time solution for thermal image simulation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think with some enhancements to the code framework, the capabilities can be extended to generate signatures in other regions, such as UV, the visible spectrum and for LADAR,\u201d Bunfield said. \u201cAside from military applications, it could be possible to use the thermal solver to commercial and manufacturing applications, such as thermal analysis simulation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re working with AEgis Technologies to best model and simulate firing and the performance of these missiles by providing scenario inputs at the true hardware rate,\u201d Parker said. \u201cOur main goal\u2014writing a massively parallel NVIDIA CUDA thermal differential equation solver\u2014will enable faster and more effective testing of high-cost components at hardware-in-the-loop testing centers.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Lance Wallace (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) (404-407-7280) or John Toon (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) (404-894-6986).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Robert Nesmith\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) researchers are working with a Huntsville, Ala., company and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to test high-altitude missiles without ever firing a shot.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers are working with a Huntsville company to test high-altitude missiles."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2014-06-11 15:23:47","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:33","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"302681":{"id":"302681","type":"image","title":"Modeling and Simulation Testing","body":null,"created":"1449244592","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:56:32","changed":"1475895007","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:07","alt":"Modeling and Simulation Testing","file":{"fid":"199590","name":"hwilcarco.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hwilcarco_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hwilcarco_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":731941,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hwilcarco_0.jpg?itok=kPh0mmYX"}}},"media_ids":["302681"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"147","name":"Military Technology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"1834","name":"missile"},{"id":"95151","name":"Missile Defense Agency"},{"id":"95141","name":"missile technology"},{"id":"579","name":"modeling and simulation"},{"id":"167045","name":"simulation"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch News\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E(404) 894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}