This paper provides a description of an innovative 'Quick-look' technique (process) for the characterization and evaluation of the flight performance of Theater Ballistic Missile (TBM) and Strategic Target Systems. The methodology for processing real-time flight target telemetry data and integrating those data items into a visualization-based, Quick-Look Analysis Process (QLAP) is presented with highlights of the results obtained from a typical flight test. Emphasis is placed on providing visualization-based data products which 'jump start' the post-flight-test data evaluation process through the correlation of a robust first-principles target model developed with the USASSDC Optical Signatures Code (OSC 18.3) to determine (pre-mission) a priori target performance parameters and correlating these data to the actual flight target performance. Processed thermal, flight dynamics, orientation and angular rates telemetry data are treated as 'truth data inputs' for the OSC-18.3 simulation of the 'real-world, flight test behavior' of the test target system. Results from this process include a video tape with visualizations of temperature and radiance maps of the target system as 'viewed' from the perspective of each optical or radar corollary sensor participating in the flight test. Also included in this paper are examples of the efficacy of using this methodology for pre-mission optimization of the data collection plans for each corollary optical or radar sensor.

Date Published: 17 June 1996
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 2742, Targets and Backgrounds: Characterization and Representation II, (17 June 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.243031

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2742:
Targets and Backgrounds: Characterization and Representation II
Wendell R. Watkins; Dieter Clement, Editor(s)