Physical modelling of naval infrared decoys in TESS and SE- WORKBENCH-EO for ship self-protection

Electronic countermeasures (ECM) are an essential part of platform protection and survivability. Developing effective countermeasure starts with an in-depth understanding of the physical interactions between the threat, the target, the countermeasures and their environment. A significant amount of this knowledge can be acquired using physics-based modelling and simulation tools. To address the rapidly evolving requirements for physics-based simulation tools, a collaboration was established between Tactical Technologies Inc. (TTI) and OKTAL-SE with the purpose of coupling OKTAL-SE’s simulation suite SE-WORKBENCH-EO and TTI’s Tactical Engagement Simulation Software (TESS). TESS simulations are physics-based tools developed in the MATLAB/Simulink framework that enable users to analyze, evaluate, understand and optimize the effectiveness of ECM against threat weapon systems. The primary motivation for coupling the two simulation packages was to create a complete set of powerful research tools capable of generating complex and realistic electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) synthetic environments (air, sea and land) in support of IR countermeasure systems development, tactics and effectiveness assessment against the latest generation of imaging IR (IIR) guided weapons. The first phase of this project was to develop an interface between TESS and SE-WORKBENCH-EO, which was successfully accomplished. The next phase addressed the specific coupling with TESS ASM(IR) simulator and the development of naval IR decoys in SE-WORKBENCH-EO. This paper first focuses on the physical modelling of the naval IR decoys in TESS (ejection, ignition, bloom, sustain, and decay phases, deceleration due to drag, components that make up the IR signature) and how these parameters are interfaced to SE-WORKBENCH-EO. This paper also discusses user input parameters as well as output parameters used to assess the effectiveness of the countermeasure. Typical deployment tactics for ship self-protection are used to visually demonstrate the naval IR decoys and their effectiveness against IIR guided anti-ship missiles.