MERLIN Defence Analyzer v1.2 - User Manual
Contents
1. Description of the scenario lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt 46 FOI R 3625 SE lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mName type std_stringParamMember gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt Short name of the scenario lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mPicture type merlin_FilePathParamMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt Optional path to a picture that describe the scenario lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mCoordSystem type std_stringParamMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt The coordinate system used by the scenario merlin ITerrain CoordinateSystemName lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mEntityList type ObjectPtrListMember gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt withInterface name mda_IScenarioEntity gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mScenarioDrawableList type ObjectPtrListMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt withInterface name gfx_IScenarioDrawable gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mScenarioActorLi2. For the Default Scenario the log structure would look like this DefaultScenario Carrier entity xml entity log event log Target entity xml entity log event log 6 1 2 File entity xml An example of entity xml file for a missile called Carrier_Active_id3 in the Default Scenario is displayed below 29 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE lt xml version 1 0 encoding UTF 8 gt lt info gt lt name gt Carrier_Active_id3 lt name gt lt type gt ActiveRadarX1 lt type gt lt id gt 3 lt id gt lt dis gt lt type gt 2 1 1 225 2 0 0 lt type gt lt kind gt Munition lt kind gt lt domain gt Anti Air lt domain gt lt category gt Guided lt category gt lt countryCode gt United States lt countryCode gt lt subcategory gt AIM 120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile AMRAAM lt subcategory gt lt specific gt NIL lt specific gt lt extra gt NIL lt extra gt lt dis gt lt info gt 6 1 3 File entity log The entity log file contains the kinematic state data in a blank space separate ascii file The first line is a header describing the individual columns This line starting with a Matlab comment sign The logged data in the file has the following structure e Column 1 represents the simulation time in seconds e Column 2 4 represents the position here in North East and Down coor dinates but could be ECEF x y z in units of meters e Column 5 8 represents the orientation in the
3. The FOI aircraft software includes an MDA extension for connecting USB joysticks to MDA This extension it s an entity actor will work with any joystick but has extra support for ThrustMasters A10 Wartog HOTASTM hardware including both the thrust and stick 8 2 HLA networking MDA has an HLA 1516 evolved connection with the FOM from the P2SN 2 0 agreement At this time this solution is constructed as a separate program package In future releases of MDA HLA support will be included in the standard installation 8 3 Computer Generated Forces CGF FOI has built a set of pilot behaviors which can be used within MDA There are also some MDA extensions to let the user configure and analyze the behaviors in detail 8 4 Missile simulation models MDA support all MERLIN models In the standard deployment of MDA v1 2 only the MERLIN example missiles are included The P2SN Federation Agreements and FOM P2SN FOM is a reference document intended to be used as a base line when developing P2SN based federations P2SN stands for Persistent Partner Simulation Network 41 FOI R 3625 SE A MDA Components The components included in the standard release of MDA are listed in this appendix with a short description of their functionality A more complete documentation of the components are built into MDA Entity Actors Name Description act_ComponentLogger Add logging facilities to an entity act_Launch Missile
4. 5 1 Preparing the Carrier Before being able to launch missiles from the carrier there are two components that needs to be prepared The carrier needs an actor that launches missiles and a radar to detect and provide the missile with up link data Here the functionality of these two components will be described 5 1 1 Actor for Launching Missiles Switching to the Actors tab in the Entity Inspector allows the user to see which actors are associated with the entity In the default scenario the carrier has an actor called Launch Missile This actor provides the carrier entity with the capability to fire a missile towards a target see figure 5 1 Entity Inspector Info Actors Drawables Attachables Launch Missile Select Munition no munition selected E Target _ Automatic fire Figure 5 1 The Launch Missile actor At this point in time no munition model has been selected and firing is therefore not possible Pressing the fire button will display an error message To select a munition press the Select Munition button A dialog will appear listing all available munitions in your MERLIN installation see figure 5 2 You should at least see three munitions called xmo_ActiveRadarX1 xmo_SemiActiveRadarX1 and zmo_IRMissileX1 Selecting a munition will display the munition proper ties Feel free to browse the available missiles before selection For this example we will select the zmo_ActiveRadarX1 munition an active radar
5. The camera always focuses on the currently selected entity By left mouse clicking and dragging in the 3D view you change the view angle of the entity By default you will rotate around the down vector and control pitch relative to the ground You can change the camera distance from the entity by using the mouse scroll wheel or by clicking META Ctrl on Windows Linux Cmd on OS X and left mouse drag up and down in the 3D view In the camera menu there s also a Focus command that set the camera to focus at close distance from the entity shorthand is Ctrl Cmd F Pressing and holding shift while navigating the camera will speed up the camera movements The camera menu also exposes a toggle command called Switch follow host If you enable this setting the camera will roll along with the selected entity 3 6 Keyboard Shortcuts Some predefined keyboard shortcuts are available These are listed in table 3 1 19 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE Table 3 1 Listing of keyboard shortcuts Name Linux OS X Open Scenario Ctrl O Cmd O Save Scenario Ctrl S Cmd S Save Scenario As Shift Ctrl S Shift Cmd S New Scenario Ctrl N Cmd N Start Pause Space Space Focus Entity Ctrl F Cmd F 20 4 Creating Scenarios and Entities On startup MDA displays a simple default scenario This scenario consists of two aircrafts called Carrier and Target The target aircraft has been provided with both EM and IR signatures The carrier i
6. 02 xmo_Missile 0 02 xmo_LowVelocityDetector 0 02 xmo_ProximitySensor 0 02 entityMermoc xmo_ActiveRadarX1 mermoc xmo_Battery 0 02 a ComponentLoggerAttacher with b ComponentLoggerAttacher with xmo_ActiveRadarX1 selected xmo_ActiveRadarX1 and Seekerldeal getSeekerState method selected Figure 6 3 ComponentLoggetAttacher with logging prototype set 6 2 3 Log Files The Component Logger stores the data into an ordered folder structure The root folder for the log output has the same name as the scenario and is placed 33 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE in MDA s current working directory typically the same directory as where you launched MDA Inside the root log folder you will find a directory for each logged entity Those folders are named after the entities name in the scenario In each entity log folder you find a log file for each logged entity component The log files are named after the name of the components followed by their order in the mermoc file closing document order which is the same order as you see in the logger GUI The numbering starts with 1 The path to the log for the Target entity in the default scenario could look like this DefaultScenario Target mock_RudimentaryAircraft 5 log Ie the file name indicates that we have logged properties from the model component mock_RudimentaryAircraft which is the fifth component in the scenario entity with name Target in the scenario named DefaultSc
7. actor 24 Entity Inspector Info Actors Drawables merlin_RadarProxy X Figure 5 3 A radar attached to the aircraft Removing Attachables is done by pressing the cross icon WARNING Entity doesn t have any radar and this missile needs link illumination No target uplink will be sent to the missile if fired in this state How the missile will respond to this depend on the specific missile implementation The radar can be re attached by pressing the Add attachable button in the Attachables This brings up a list of all available attachable components Select the merlin_RadarProxy and the red cone reappears in the 3D view and the warning message in the Launch Missile actor disappears 5 2 Preparing the Target To inspect the properties of the Target entity select it in the scenario inspector Entities tab When doing this you can immediately see a few differences by just looking at the target in the 3D view A blue transparent sphere is drawn around the entity and if you look closely you can also see white transparent ellipsoids see figure 5 4 The blue sphere and white ellipsoids are visualizations of the entities electromagnetic signature and IR signatures respectively Figure 5 4 3D view of the target where the RCS and IR signatures are shown By selecting the Attachables tab the two components merlin ConstantRCS 25 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE Reflector and merlin_SimpleIRSignature are shown The signa
8. end condition has occurred It can be used as a safe guard if no other end condition are triggered and thus avoid the simulation to continue forever Now Activate the Actors tab in the Scenario Inspector and press the Add actor button Add the MazSimTimeEndCondition actor Set the stopTime to 100 seconds which is enough for this scenario Save the scenario and run it You can speed up the simulation time by adjusting the time multiplier slider in the top toolbar Notice how the scenario is paused after 100 seconds have passed Press the stop button to reload the scenario add an end condition for when a missile detonates Activate the Actors tab in the Scenario Inspector and press the Add actor button Add the GenericEventEndCondition actor see figure 7 2 36 Select the merlin_MunitionDetonationTerminalEvent To see the whole GUI for this actor you might have to widen the Scenario Inspector tab Make sure to widen it until you see the full width of the actor Save the scenario e Run the scenario to make sure it pauses when a missile hits the target Reload the scenario by pressing the stop button End Condition Event eventName merlin_MunitionDetonationTerminalEvent v merlin_LowVelocityTerminalEvent merlin_LowClosingVelocityTerminalEvent merlin_MaxTimeReachedTerminalEvent merlin_SeekerBrokenTerminalEvent merlin_HitBeforeArmedTerminalEvent merlin_BoosterBurnOutinfoEvent merlin_BoosterlgnitioninfoEvent merlin_Link
9. entities when they have been hit A hit occurs when a merlin_MunitionDetonation TerminalEvent has been received If this actor is included in the scenario all entities within the blast range will then be removed In some models missiles are launched without interacting with MDA and the Launch Missile actor It is then impossible for MDA to obtain information about them unless the Add External Missiles actor is included in the scenario 5 10 Extend Visualization As has been shown before it is possible to extend the 3D visualization of both the scenario and the entities For studies of missile behaviors the scenario 27 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE drawable called MissileInfo is recommended It provides a predicted impact point current closing velocity distance to target time to target and seeker states directly into the 3D view see figure 5 6 Draw Missile Info Visible M DrawPrimp M Drawinfo M DrawTargetGfx M FontSize h2 sd DI 2444 61 m Figure 5 6 The Missile info drawable can display missile properties in the 3D view such as distance to target closing velocity seeker state etc 28 6 Logging The functionality of logging is provided in MDA through Actors and two such actors are included in the release of MDA 1 2 The first one is a high level log and works on all scenario entities This is the Scenario Entity Logger which can be enabled by adding the scenario actor called act_ScenarioEntityLogg
10. missile After selection is completed notice that the zmo_ActiveRadarX1 name now is shown next to the Select Munition button displaying your selection 23 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE ec Load Munition xmo_ActiveRadarX1 mermoc ActiveRadarXI xmo_IRMissileX1 mermoc kind Munition 2 xmo_SemiActiveRadarX1 mermoc n A papel countryCode 225 United States subcategory 2 AIM 120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile AMRAAM specific 0 extra 0 This is a very simple active radar missile Developed to be used for application integration tests and as an example model for MERLIN developers tie tunun AuUWiduge GUVUL wugu DIGAS Suppusu Uy muua pivpalauvil SULCCIULy IRUEIVARI lau Lilia UI was echos picked up by the onboard active seeker The ideal seeker which cannot be jammed out targets the strongest signal The missile has been developed to be an unclassified example model The model can be used in open test integration environments Source code for the missile is in the open domain and is a good place for new MERLIN developers to examine Target fix launch success zones Below is a few target fix launch success zones for this missile The launcher and target are both at velocity mach 0 85 The target is not making any avodiance manouver Altitude 1000 m so q era carrier alt 1000 mach 0 85 m Cancel Open Figure 5 2 Dialog for selecting munition Next to the fire button see figure 5 1 there is a drop d
11. own package management system For Ubuntu and Debian distributions installing third party libraries can be done by using apt get Note that zlib and libxml2 are often preinstalled in linux unix distributions apt get install libgt4 apt get install libxml2 apt get install zlibig On some systems you might need to complement the libqt4 with libqt4 webkit apt get install libgt4 webkit 1 5 2 Environment Variables In order to let MERLIN know where all deployed products are located an en vironment variable must be set called AVALON_HOME and the operative system needs to know where the shared libraries are located On Linux and Unix this is done by setting the following environment variables using bash export AVALON_HOME YOUR_PATH_TO_AVALON_HOME export LD_LIBRARY_PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH AVALON_HOME merlin lib export LD_LIBRARY_PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH AVALON_HOME merlin_utilities lib export LD_LIBRARY_PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH AVALON_HOME MDA lib 11 FOI R 3625 SE 1 6 Running MDA If your environment variables are correctly set you should now be able to run MDA by writing the following command in a terminal gt AVALON_HOME MDA bin MDA When MDA is started from the command line there are some options available These will be displayed if you add the help option as shown below gt AVALON_HOME MDA bin MDA help MDA MERLIN Defence Analyzer Usage MDA OPTION Options help print help h print help help
12. print help s lt arg gt start up with scenario absolute mermoc path wgs84 startup simulation in WGS84 round world model Examples Start MDA with scenario mermoc preloaded gt AVALON_HOME MDA bin MDA s PWD scenario mermoc Start scenario in wgs84 mode gt AVALON_HOME MDA bin MDA wgs84 1 7 Reference Frames By default MDA starts up in a flat earth NED frame where vectors expressed in the fixed inertial frame are expressed relative to North East and Down It is also possible to run MDA with a WGS84 earth representation where vectors expressed in the inertial frame are expressed in ECEF Earth Centered Earth Fix coordinates To run MDA in a WGS8 mode add the wgs84 option to the command line MDA will then start up with a default scenario in WGS84 E g gt AVALON_HOME MDA bin MDA wgs84 When running in WGS84 mode the position of the entities are expressed in longitude and latitude in the entity inspector view for convenience Note that a scenario has to be constructed in WGS84 or flat earth In version 1 2 of MDA there is no functionality to convert between scenarios defined in different frames MDA stores which reference frame that is used in the scenario file and auto matically switches to the correct frame when opening the scenario 12 2 Components in MDA Components are an important concept in MDA that bring different types of functionality to a scenario and allows the user to add change behaviors
13. the Drawable tab and the Attachable tab are displayed 18 3 3 3D Scenario View The 3D view in MDA displays the scenario What will be displayed in the 3D view is determined by the added scenario entities and their corresponding Drawables The scenario may also have scenario drawables adding graphics to the scene By adding your specific set of drawables you can emphasize what is important to visualize in your problem set The camera is always focused on the currently selected scenario entity User interaction with the 3D view is described in section 3 5 3 4 Toolbar The toolbar at the top of the MDA window expose functionality to control the scenario runtime start pause and stop reload the scenario You can use the slider to alter how fast the simulation runs to make simulation time progress faster than clock time or slower By default this slider is set to 1 0 Le one second of simulation time equals one second of real world time 2 0 means the simulations runs twice as fast as real time en MDA SAVALON_HOME MDA mermocs DefaultScenario mermoc AS Figure 3 5 The Ul toolbar has controls for starting stopping and pausing the scenario You can also change the realtime multiplier using the slider Pressing the stop button will reload the scenario Use the pause button for pausing You can also press the spacebar to pause the scenario 3 5 Camera Navigation Camera navigation in the MDA 3D view is very simplistic at this time
14. Add functionality to equip an entity with a missile con figure it and and fire against targets act_LogReader You can replay a stored trajectory using this component act_RangeDisplay Displays a table with current range to all other entities in the scenario Entity Drawables Name Description drawable_ObjModel Renders Wavefront obj 3D objects drawable_Acceleration Render an axis displaying the current load fac tor of the entity drawable_AlphaBeta Visualizes alpha and beta of the entity drawable_CoordinateSystem Render a body fix coordinate system drawable NEDCoordinateSystem Render a North East Down inertial system that follows with the entity drawable EMEmitter Render an EMEmitter if there is an EMEmit ter model associated with the entity drawable_Path Creates a path trailing the entity drawable_PathTube Creates a circular path trailing the entity Entity Attachables Name Description merlin_ConstantRCSReflector Adds a spheric constant size electromagnetic re flector to the entity merlin_RadarProxy Add an ideal radar to the entity merlin_F16IRSignature Add a volumetric Infrared Red F16 signature to the entity merlin_SU27IRSignature Add a volumetric Infrared Red SU27 signature to the entity merlin_JAS39IRSignature Add a volumetric Infrared Red JAS39 signature to the entity merlin_JA37IRSign
15. An entity drawable as the name implies adds some graphical properties to the platform A typical example is when you want to add a 3D representation of your entity or a drawable that display the trajectory of entity 3 2 4 Attachables Tab In the Attachables tab all attachables associated with the selected entity are listed Attachables are a special kind of components that implement the MER LIN interface called IToScenarioEntityAttachable This is an interface con structed for runtime connection of an entity to a subsystem in MERLIN Ex amples of attachables are signatures IR RCS radars chaff or flare ejecting systems Entity Inspector Entity Inspector Info Actors Drawables Attachables Info Actors Drawables JAttaehables Body Coordinate System foicomp_RadarProxy F16 3D model mBeamwidth 120 DI ipti mDescription NODESCRIPTION mEmittedPower 100 mName F16 3D model mCenterFrequency 4e 09 mColor ci Fi Mod te Goa i mCen requencyl 0 misVisible y mBandwidth 10000 mObjFileName F16 0bj MERE ui mPulseDuration 0 TEE ESE 1 minHighDensityModeTrack m EulerAnglesZYX 0 00 0 00 0 00 mDoExtrapolate e mWireFrame mRelativeYaw 0 Path mRelativePitch 0 Launch Missile mBeamwidthHorB 0 mBeamwidthVerB 0 misLobeRectangular misLobePennLobe mAntennaGainDb 1 merlin_ConstantRCSReflector Add drawable _ Add attachable a Entity Drawables tab b Entity Attachables tab Figure 3 4 The Entity Inspector has four tabs Here
16. Grol EMIL SALLING PETER STROMBACK MERLIN Defence Analyzer v1 2 User Manual FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency is a mainly assignment funded agency under the Ministry of Defence The core activities are research method and technology development as well as studies conducted in the interests of Swedish defence and the safety and security of society The organisation employs approximately 1000 per sonnel of whom about 800 are scientists This makes FOI Sweden s largest research institute FOI gives its customers access to leading edge expertise in a large number of fields such as security policy studies defence and security related analyses the assessment of various types of threat systems for control and management of crises protection against and management of hazardous substances IT security and the potential offered by new sensors ISSN 1650 1942 FOI E Defence Research Agency Phone 46 8 555 030 00 www foi se SE 164 90 Stockholm Fax 46 8 555 031 00 FOI R 3625 SE December 2012 Emil Salling Peter Stromback MERLIN Defence Analyzer v1 2 User Manual Titel Title Report no Month Year Pages ISSN Customer Project no Approved by Division MERLIN Defence Analyzer v1 2 Anvandarmanual MERLIN Defence Analyzer v1 2 User Manual FOI R 3625 SE December 2012 48 ISSN 1650 1942 Swedish Armed Forces E36500 Lars H stbeck Head Division for Information and Aeronautical Systems I
17. In the default scenario there are two entities the Carrier and the Target The entities them selfs are also described with XML Here the content of their XML description was replaced with dots to make the illustration of the scenario easier to read e A list of drawables in the scenario These are also described with XML but truncated here for improved readability e A list of actors in the scenario Two actors are available in the DefaultSce nario Automatically removal of detonated entities and automatic inser tion of missiles created from other entities and not directly from MDA lt xml version 1 0 gt lt objects gt lt mda_Scenario gt lt Scenario Information gt lt mFormatVersionNumber value 1 0 gt lt mName value Default Scenario gt lt mPicture value AVALON_HOME MDA mermocs DefaultScenario png gt lt mCoordSystem value FLAT_XNorthYEastZDown gt lt mDescription value Missile Duel Scenario gt lt mExitAtEndCondition value 0 gt lt List of additional services gt lt mAdditionalServices list objectPtr gt lt mAdditionalServices gt lt List of entities in the scenario gt lt mEntityList list objectPtr gt 45 FOI R 3625 SE lt mda_ScenarioEntity gt lt mda_ScenarioEntity gt lt Carrier gt lt mda_ScenarioEntity gt lt mda_ScenarioEntity gt lt Target gt lt mEntityList gt lt List of Scenario Drawables gt lt m
18. MsgWasReceivedinfoEvent Figure 7 2 A GenericEventCondition with the default merlin_MunitionDetonation event chosen 7 2 3 Step 3 Add Loggers Adding loggers to a scenario is described in details in chapter 6 e Add the ScenarioEntityLogger by pressing the Add actor button in the Actors tab of the Scenario Inspector and selecting it 7 2 4 Step 4 Save Scenario As a precaution save the scenario again before configuring the parameter variation 7 2 5 Step 5 Configure Parameter Variation Configuring the parameter variation is done by selecting which parameters in the scenario file that should be varied between which values and with what kind of distribution The scenario is presented to the user as a raw object graph containing dependencies between objects entities and sub components and the parameters Appendix B describes the file format of the scenario in more detail and could be useful for better understanding the object graph shown in the parameter variation dialog In this example the mass of a missile will be varied e Open the Parameter Variation dialog by selecting the Parameter Varia tion field under the Simulation menu e The displayed variation dialog that opens up should look somewhat sim ilar to figure 7 3 37 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE e Locate the mMissileMermoc parameter under mda_Scenario gt mEntity List gt mda_ScenarioEntity gt mEntity gt mActorList gt act_Launch Missile e Double cli
19. RChannel drawable_LinkGfx Display animated graphics for link sent and received events MissileInfo Display a selectable set of missile related info such as closing velocity distance to target predicted point of impact etc drawable_Plane Draws a gridded plane using lines drawable_TexturedPlane Draws a texture mapped plane DrawClockTime Draw time manager clock time 44 FOI R 3625 SE B Scenario File Format The scenario file format in MDA is based on the MERLIN mermoc standard A mermoc is an XML file that describes the relation between objects and the values of the parameters in the object In this chapter the MDA scenario file format will be explained by going thought the DefaultScenario mermoc file and provide the XML Schema for the scenario file format Example Below is a truncated listing of the scenario file called DefaultScenario mermoc As can be seen in the listing the scenario is constructed from five major parts e Scenario Information containing information about the scenario and a flag if the program should exit when an end condition is reached e A list of additional services MERLIN is provided with a basic set of services such as gravity models atmosphere models and time managers for numerical integration of differential equation Here it is possible to extend the basic set with extra services required by your models e A list of entities in the scenario
20. Running a Scenario 5 1 Preparing the Carrier 5 1 1 Actor for Launching Missiles 5 1 2 Aircraft Radar 5 2 Preparing the Target Emm nn 5 3 Saving the Scenario 0 0 00002 5 4 Firing the Missile aa 5 5 Running the Simulation o 5 6 Stopping Reloading a Scenario 5 7 Inspecting the Missile 5 8 EndConditions o e 5 9 Default Scenario Actors 5 10 Extend Visualization 0 00 Logging 6 1 Scenario Entity Logger 0 8 1417 Logistructure fe saa nate ee BS Go ai 6 1 2 FileentityxmMl 6 1 3 Fileentity log lt 6 1 4 Fileeventlog 6 2 Component Logger 2 2 2 o e e 6 2 1 Manually adding a Component Logger 6 2 2 Automatically creating Component Loggers 6 2 3 Log Files ul va ana oe Ei ae Ra a Parameter Variation 71 Overview LL 1 2 EXaMPle nn A ee ee te Oe amp bee SE OS 7 2 1 Step 1 Design the Scenario 7 2 2 Step 2 Setup End Conditions 7 2 3 Step 3 Add Loggers o o oo 7 2 4 Step 4 Save Scenario 7 2 5 Step 5 Configure Parameter Variation 7 2 6 Step 6 Running the Parameter Variation 7 2 7 Step 7 Analyze Results Overview of MDA Extensions 8 1 Joystick support 0 8 2 HLA ne
21. ScenarioDrawableList list objectPtr gt lt drawable_GridTerrain gt lt drawable_GridTerrain gt lt drawable_EMEmitters gt lt drawable_EMEmitters gt lt drawable_FMReceivers gt lt drawable_EMReceivers gt lt drawable_FMReflectors gt lt drawable_EMReflectors gt lt drawable_IRSensors gt lt drawable_IRSensors gt lt drawable_IREmitters gt lt drawable_IREmitters gt lt mScenarioDrawableList gt lt List of Scenario Actors gt lt mScenarioActorList list objectPtr gt lt act_RemoveDetonatedEntities gt lt act_AutoAddExternalMissiles gt lt mScenarioActorList gt lt mda_Scenario gt lt objects gt XML Schema Below is a listing of the XML Schema that describes the scenario file format lt xml version 1 0 gt lt xsd schema xmlns xsd http www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema gt lt xsd element name mda_Scenario substitutionGroup complex bject gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt implements gt lt mda_IScenario gt lt mda_IComponent gt lt implements gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt This is representation of a scenario lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd complexType gt lt xsd complexContent gt lt xsd extension base complex bjectBase gt lt xsd all gt lt xsd element name mDescription type std_stringParamMember gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt
22. Simulation To start the simulation press the Play button at the top left MDA window The time indicator in the bottom left corner of the MDA main window will start ticking and the entities moving If the missile hits the target both the target and the missile will be removed from the scenario by default The simulation can be paused by pressing the Pause button or the space bar key 5 6 Stopping Reloading a Scenario Once you have launched the scenario you can easily return to the last saved state of the scenario by pressing the Stop button The time indicator in the bottom of the left corner of the MDA main Window will reset to zero and the two entities will return to their starting position Be careful Any changes done to the scenario since the last time it was saved are lost when the scenario is reloaded 5 7 Inspecting the Missile During the simulation you can select the missile entity and inspect its status during flight Just as for the Carrier and Target the Info tab shows the current position velocity and orientation of the missile In the Actors tab an actor called Missile Inspector is available providing in formation about the missile seeker states and a list of events related to the missile see figure 5 5 26 Entity Inspector Info Factors Drawables Attachables Missile Inspector Seeker Type ACTIVE State TRACKING Status TARGET_ACQUIRED Events n t s event name 1 merlin_MissileLaunchInfoE
23. ature Add a volumetric Infrared Red JA37 signature to the entity 43 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE Scenario Actors Name Description act_AutoAddExternalMissiles An actor that monitor all created missiles and attaches them to the scenario without user in tervention act_Component Logger Attacher A component that can be configured to attach a component logger to each entity of a specified type act_ScenarioEntityLogger This component log kinematic data for all enti ties in the scenario Output can be read back with the act_LogReader act_RemoveDetonatedEntities Removes all entities that are within range of any MunitionDetonation terminal event act_GenericEventEndCondition An end condition that monitor MERLIN events act_MaxSimTimeEndCondition An end condition that can be configured with a max simulation time Scenario Drawables Name Description drawable_Detonation Render a simplistic detonation at MunitionDetonation events drawable EMEmitters Render all EMEmitters registered in EMChannel drawable_EMReceivers Render all EMReceivers registered in EMChannel drawable_EMReflectors Render all EMReflectors registered in EMChannel drawable_GridTerrain Render a configurable infinite grid drawable IREmitters Render all IREMitters registered in IRChannel drawable_IRSensors Render all IRSensors registered in I
24. ck the mMissileMermoc to open a second object graph window This window then displays the object graph of the missile model e Locate the parameter called EmptyMass available under xmo_Missile gt mDynamics gt EmptyMass see figure 7 4a e Double click EmptyMass to display a dialog for selecting the type of variation see figure 7 4b e Select start value 80 end value 120 and number of values 10 Use the constant step variation type and press OK e Close the parameter variation dialog for the missile by pressing Done By default the variation type is set to Constant step The Constant step will accept a parameter range defined by a start value an end value and the number of steps the range should be partitioned into The pop up menu let you select other variations as well such as uniform distribution and normal distribution see figure 7 4b Users pstrom Projects AVALON MDA mermocs DefaultScenario mermoc Title Value Y objects v mda Scenario mAdditionalServices Y meEntityList v mda_ScenarioEntity gt mGroupHierarchy gt mEntity mDrawableList Y mActorList v act_LaunchMissile mMissileMermoc SAVALON_HOME merlin_examples mermocs xm Users pstrom Projects AVALON MDA bin miroop jar Run Figure 7 3 In the parameter variation dialog all scenario properties are shown Only the non greyed properties can be configured for variation at this time 38 8090 ers pstrom Projects AVALON merlin_examples mermocs xmo_Act
25. contains a list of all entities in the scenario To select an entity you can left click the corresponding entity name in the list When the selection is made the selected entity will receive camera focus in the 15 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE Scenario Inspector Scenario Inspector Entities Actors Drawables Entities Actors Drawables Scenario Inspector Entities Actors Drawables Scenario Entities Remove entities when hit Add External Missiles End Condition Event End Condition Max time Carrier Target Grid Plane EMEmitters EMReceivers EMReflectors stopTime 1000 mDescription NODESCRIPTION mName EMReflectors mColor mAlpha 0 3 misVisible M mRadius 10 IRSensors IREmitters Add Remove Add actor Add drawable a Scenario Entities b Scenario Actors c Scenario Drawables Figure 3 2 Scenario Inspector views 3D view and the Entity Inspector will update and display the selected entity properties By right clicking an entity name a popup menu appears with options for editing the entity This allows you to save the configured entity create a duplicate clone and add actors drawables and attachables to the entity The menu contains the same information as the Entities in the applications menu Renaming an entity is done in the Entity Inspector and doing so will also change the name in the entity list 3 1 2 Actors Tab This tab see figure 3 2b dis
26. d with the MDA release A complete list of these components is available in appendix A You can also browse the different available components by adding a new component MDA will then display a list of all available components with their corresponding descriptions Entity Inspector o Entity Inspector fo Actors Drawables Attachables Info Drawables Attachables Info Launch Missile Name Carrier Type RudimentaryAircraft Select Munition foicomp_OpenAMRAAM 3 4 on 4 DisType Platform Air Fighter Air Ka Target Marking Blue Automatic fire Placement north 0 00 east 0 00 alt 1000 00 Command Close head 0 00 pitch 0 00 roll 0 00 Range Display u 100 00 v 0 00 w 0 00 Name Range m G p 0 00 q 0 00 re 0 00 Carrier 0 00 0 00 Target 5001 00 0 00 mach 0 30 000 B 000 Fraction Fraction settings Blue Group common Open Fraction Manager Add actors a Entity Info tab b Entity Actors tab Figure 3 3 The Entity Inspector has four tabs Here the Info tab and the Actors tab are displayed 3 2 1 Info Tab The Entity Information tab see figure 3 3a has three sections Info Displace ment and Fraction The first section of the entity information tab displays the entity instance name a unique name in the simulation a platform type name and the text string version of the DIS type There is an editable field for entity marking which is a string that can conta
27. e mermoc with the variation settings 39 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE CJ MIROOP_O gt gt miroop run txt LocalAvalon P lt gt miroop xml MDALog txt MLog txt A Sim_1 gt I ParameterVariationTest gt Sim 2 gt 7 ParameterVariationTest mermoc DI Sim_3 gt 5 simulation_debug_printouts txt Sim_4 gt Sim_5 P Sim_6 P Sim_7 E Sim 8 p Sim_9 b Figure 7 6 During a parameter variation a directory called MIROOP_0 is created containing sub folders with results from each different parameter variation The loggers have also created a folder with the scenario name Parameter Vari ation Test containing all of the scenario logs In this folder the results will be located Read chapter 6 for descriptions of the scenario output folder and its contents Finally there are two MERLIN and MDA log output files MLog tzt and MDA Log txt These files are mostly used for debugging 7 2 7 1 Quick Visualization of the Results One quick way to visualize the outcome of all variation runs is to open the automatically generated scenario called ResultScenario mermoc It will play back all entities from each scenario run simultaneously Note that this file can become very large depending on how many variations you have performed It is suggested to use this feature only for small numbers of variations It can be useful when defining the scenario to quickly find out the effect of the chosen variation Note also
28. enario A complete logging folder might look like figure 6 4 TT foicomp_Missile 23 log e gt k Carrier_OpenAMRAA_id3 merlin_ActivationGroup 1 log gt endcondition txt xmo_Seekerldeal 6 log a DefaultScenario kills txt lt o gt structure xml PA N u Target mock_RudimentaryAircraft 5 log Figure 6 4 An example of the folder structure created by the loggers The file structure xml contains an xml description of the logging files The component log files are ascii files with columns separated by spaces The first line is a header describing the individual columns The name of logged methods appear in the header for their respective column Methods that return vectors or quaternions append a number at the end of the method name to indicate which element of the vector the column represents Below is an example of the method getPosition being logged tls getPositionE_0 getPositionE_1 getPositionE_2 0 02 2 0 1000 0 04 4 0 1000 0 06 6 0 1000 0 08 8 0 1000 0 1 10 0 1000 34 7 Parameter Variation When studying a model or a scenario it is often useful to be able to run the scenario in many different variations and to analyze the results to achieve a greater understanding of the studied problem MDA has a built in engine for parameter variation that can be used together with the logging functionality described in chapter 6 to study variations in complex scenarios In this chapter the
29. er mermoc files In the example in section 7 2 this will be demonstrated on a missile 7 2 Example In this section the steps of using parameter variation will be explained through a concrete example using the Default Scenario provided with MDA 35 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE 7 2 1 Step 1 Design the Scenario The first step to running parameter variation is to create design your scenario Load the default scenario Select the wmo_ActivateRadarX1 missile in the Launch Missile entity actor for the Carrier Make sure to check the Automatic fire checkbox This check box will make the launch missile actor fire a missile as soon as the scenario is started Save the scenario under some suitable name for instance Parameter Vari ation Test Test running the scenario and make sure you hit your target Press the stop button to reload the saved version of the Parameter Vari ationTest scenario 7 2 2 Step 2 Setup End Conditions Next some break condition need to be added to make sure the scenario end when some criterion is reached In this example we will use two built in end condition scenario actors MaxSimTimeEndCondition and GenericEventEnd Condition The MaxSimTimeEndCondition stops the scenario after a time limit has been reached End Condition Max time stopTime 150 Figure 7 1 The scenario end condition Max Time set to 150 seconds This end condition is useful for catching the cases when no other
30. er to the scenario se section 3 1 2 The second provided logging functionality is a detailed component logger as sociated with a specific entity or a specific type of entities It is available as both a scenario actor act_ComponentLoggerAttacher and as an entity actor act_ComponentLogger When used as a scenario actor the user must select which prototype that should be logged e g xmo_ActiveRadarX1 mermoc 6 1 Scenario Entity Logger The Scenario Entity Logger provides the capability of logging kinematic data from all entities in the scenario Here kinematic data refers to the positions velocities and orientations of the entities As soon as the act_ScenarioEntityLogger is added to the scenario it will start to log the available and any added entities 6 1 1 Log structure The Scenario Entity Logger creates a directory where MDA was started from with the same name as the name of the scenario e g DefaultScenario In this directory new directories for each of the entities are created e g Default Scenario Target In these directories log files are stored for each individual entity The log files are all provided as ascii text files For each entity the Scenario Entity Logger will create three types of log files e entity xml which contain DIS type information about the entity e entity log which contain position velocity and orientation information e event log which contains all event history related to the entity
31. foEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_BoosterBurnOutInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_MunitionDetonationTerminalEvent killed Target missDistance 0 00624176 31 FOI R 3625 SE 6 2 1 Manually adding a Component Logger If you have an existing entity in the scenario an aircraft for example you can add a ComponentLogger to this entity This is done in the Entity Inspector Actors tab The Component Logger provides you with a list of all subcomponents in the entity and the capability to select which methods data within those subcom ponents you want to log see figure 6 1 Some of the subcomponents make little sense to log but are included since they are automatically generated Entity Inspector Info Factors Drawables Attachables Launch Missile Component Logger merlin_ActivationGroup 0 02 mock_ExtrapolatingMutableKinem 0 02 merlin_PayloadManager 0 02 mock_RudimentaryAircraft 0 02 getlD getType getMarking getPositionE M getRo Position of the body expressed in E Earth semini getDisplacement Figure 6 1 An MDA ComponentLogger entity actor is added to an entity and the model sub component mock_RudimentaryAirc
32. form of a quaternion The quaternion represents the transformation of the vector x expressed in body coordinates B to fixed frame coordinates E by the quaternion multiplication x qox Column 5 7 represents the vector part of the quaternion and column 8 the scalar part e Column 9 11 represent the velocity in body frame coordinates Forward Right and Down in units of meters per second e Column 12 14 represents the angular velocity of the body expressed in body frame coordinates commonly denoted as pqr in units of radians per second Below is an example of an entity log file oo0oooOo t s getDisplacement_0 getDisplacement_1 getDisplacement_2 04 4 0 1000 000110000000 06 6 O 1000 000 110000000 08 8 O 1000 000110000000 1 10 0 1000 000110000000 12 12 0 1000 000110000000 14 14 O 1000 000110000000 30 6 1 4 File event log The event log file provides a list of the events that was emitted by this specific entity The file consists of 5 columns The first line is a header starting with a Matlab comment character Column 1 represents the time in seconds Column 2 4 represents the position of the entity at the time of the event Position is given in fixed frame coordinates here in the flat NED frame but could be ECEF coordinates as well Position is provided in units of meters Column 5 represents the triggered event in a string format Column 6 is optional and provides additional data related to t
33. he event Below is an example of an event log for a missile 995 979 952 914 207 84 04 29 TT 53 05 97 48 t s entityPosE 0 0 0 1000 1 200 0 1000 1 100 0 1000 1 03 103 38 0 999 1 06 106 87 0 999 1 1 110 47 0 999 1 13 114 18 0 999 2 06 261 86 2 32 996 3 06 507 36 35 65 1013 4 06 847 64 104 49 1049 5 06 1289 4 197 74 1088 6 06 1837 5 298 6 1118 7 06 2493 72 388 53 1130 8 3202 17 448 83 1122 8 06 3255 93 452 01 1121 9 06 4041 33 480 00 1094 10 0 4789 18 476 19 1058 11 0 5501 72 443 50 1019 11 5 5816 91 418 93 1000 6 2 Component Logger The Component Logger allows you to log detailed information about entities and its subcomponents It uses the interface loggers that are build in to MER LIN and automatically generated by the MERLIN build system Thus all MERLIN models components you have installed on your system will have an appropriate logger The Component Logger comes in two flavors one that is added directly to an entity and one that is added to the scenario but acts on a selected class of entities EventName merlin_MissileFiredInfoEvent additional data FOI R 3625 SE launcher Carrier target Target distance 5001 merlin_MissileLaunchInfoEvent merlin_BoosterIgnitionInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent merlin_SeekerOpenInfoEvent merlin_SeekerAcquiredTargetInfoEvent merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedIn
34. in application scenario specific entity descriptions The Displacement section is where you define and view the placement of plat form There are editable fields for position and orientation orientation with respect to the fixed inertial frame and velocity and angular velocity with re spect to the body frame Mach number angle of attack alpha and angle of sideslip beta are displayed as well Hover with your mouse over the fields to display the unit of the field The Fraction section of the Info tab display which fraction and group the entity 17 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE is part of Fraction settings defines which team the entity is a member of for instance Red Blue or Neutral Group is a marker for a group within the fraction and could for example be Strike One or Escort Two The fraction and group are especially important when running computer generated forces simulations see section 8 3 When running a non CGF scenario fraction and group is just a marker and has no effect on the simulation 3 2 2 Actors Tab In the Actors tab all actors associated with the selected entity are listed see 3 3b An entity actor is a component that allows you to act on the entity in some way Adding actors to an entity is typically the way to add user interaction to an entity or to influence the simulation 3 2 3 Drawables Tab In the Drawables tab all drawables associated with the selected entity are listed see figure 3 4a
35. in which MDA has been used are listed below e Studying missile duels using MERLIN missile models e Verifying developed missile models by analyzing their behavior e Developing and running CGF models e Scenario parameter variation studies e Evaluation of chaff bundle radar interaction 1 4 Supported Platforms MDA is built on a platform independent architecture which means that most common platforms are supported However in the 1 2 version release of MDA no prebuilt packages are available for Microsoft Windows Prebuilt releases of MDA are available for 32 and 64bit Linux 1Salling et al MERLIN Software Architecture Document FOI R 2486 SE 2009 10 FOI R 3625 SE 1 5 Installing MDA MDA is delivered as a compressed file MDA_1_2 Linux i686 Release tar gz and installed as a standard MERLIN product by decompressing the file into a directory called AVALON_HOME For more information about MERLIN installa tions see MERLIN Software Architecture Document FOI R 2486 SE 1 5 1 Prerequisites MDA has a few MERLIN dependencies In your AVALON_HOME directory you must have the following packages e MERLIN version 1 5 3 e MERLIN_EXAMPLES version 1 4 7 e MERLIN_UTILITIES version 1 2 e MDA version 1 2 You also need a few third party libraries installed on your system e Qt 4 6 or higher OpenGL libxml2 e zlib Java 6 0 or higher It is recommended that these are installed using the operating system s
36. ipedia org wiki High_ Level_Architecture_ simulation for more information IR Infra Red MERLIN is a software architecture used for real time simulation models MDA is constructed to run and evaluate models developed using MER LIN MDA also uses the MERLIN architecture for its own building blocks See MERLIN software architecture document for an overview of this pack age MERMOC A mermoc is an xml file describing a model composition and a fundamental part of MERLIN MERMOC is the abbreviation for MER LIN Model Composition and the abbreviation mostly occurs as file ex tension the the model compositions mermoc MDA MERLIN Defence Analyze a software for analyzing scenarios and sim ulation models for defence purposes Qt Qt is a GUI platform independent framework used in to create the graphical user interface See http qt digia com for more information about Qt RCS Radar Cross Section WGS84 World Geodetic System 84 is a standard describing the features of the earth and often used in geodesy aerospace and navigation applica tions See http en wikipedia org wiki World_Geodetic_System 1 3 Intended Use MDA was initially designed to aid in the evaluation and verification of missile models in air to air duels MDA was then an abbreviation for MERLIN Duel Analyzer Today it has been used for several different applications and nowa days MDA is an abbreviation for MERLIN Defence Analyzer A few of the applications
37. iveRa Tie Value Variation Start value 80 Y mDynamics xmo_MissileDynamics StepSize 0 01 End value 120 EmptyMass 108 RotationTimeConstant 0 04 Number of values 10 ActivationGroup gt AccCommand gt Anrodymamies V Constant step Engines Uniform distribution Normal distribution B a The EmptyMass parameter that should be b Different distributions are available for the varied parameter variation Figure 7 4 Dialog for varying the parameter EmptyMass with a constant step between 80 kg and 120 kg 7 2 6 Step 6 Running the Parameter Variation To start the parameter variation press the Run button in the Scenario Varia tion dialog box When you do this MDA displays a status dialog showing the progress see figure 7 5 When the variation is finished close all dialogs eno Miroop finished sucessfully in 55 0043s eoo MIROOP_2 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 22 2012 Miroop initialized INFO Mon Aug 20 12 31 11 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 2 out of 10 m INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 29 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 10 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 31 12 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 2 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 30 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 10 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 31 13 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 2 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 31 2012 Sim
38. mponenter och funktioner Utveckling av komponenter och pluginer beskrivs ej I MDA finns f rm gan att s tta upp scenarion inneh llande flera plattformar visualisera beteenden styra simuleringsingstid logga resultat spela upp tidi gare k rningar och genomf ra parametervariation p fullskaliga scenarion Nyckelord MDA Simulering MERLIN MERLIN Defence Analyzer Contents 1 Introduction 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 Scope Definitions Acronyms and Abbreviations Intended Use Supported Platforms Installing MDA 1 5 1 1 5 2 Environment Variables Running MDA Reference Frames Prerequisites Componenis in MDA 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 Launch Missile Signatures Radar Logging Drawable Object Model EMChannel Drawables User Interface 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 Scenario Inspector 3 1 1 Entities Tab 3 1 2 Actors Tab 3 1 3 Drawables Tab Entity Inspector 3 2 1 Info Tab 3 2 2 Actors Tab 3 2 3 Drawables Tab 3 2 4 Attachables Tab 3D Scenario View Toolbar Camera Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts Creating Scenarios and Entities 4 1 4 2 4 3 Adding Entities Decorating Entities Create an Entity Prototype FOI R 3625 SE 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 FOI R 3625 SE 4 4 EditingaPrototype 00
39. nformation and Aeronautical Systems FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency This work is protected under the Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works SFS 1960 729 Any form of reproduction translation or modification without permission is prohibited Abstract MERLIN Defence Analyzer MDA is an application for interactively running and analyzing MERLIN models This manual describes how to use and install version 1 2 of the application The intended reader of this document is working with simulation models for assessing and analyzing weapon systems and computer generated forces The document covers how to use the components and functionality provided in the v1 2 release of MDA Development of components and plugins are not covered MDA includes the capability to generate scenarios of multiple platforms vi sualize behaviors control simulations by setting simulation time step logging replaying of generated results as well as parameter variation on full scale sce narios Keywords MDA Simulation MERLIN MERLIN Defence Analyzer FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE Sammanfattning MERLIN Defence Analyzer MDA ar ett program for att interaktivt k ra och analysera MERLIN modeller Denna manual beskriver hur man installerar och anvander version 1 2 av MDA Dokument riktar sig till lasare som arbetar med simuleringsmodeller f r utvardering och analys av vapensystem och syntetiska akt rer och innehaller en beskrivning av ko
40. ntity Inspector You will most likely want to add signatures to your entities If you don t weapons radars etc will not be able to detect them The signatures are added to the entity under the Attachables tab 4 3 Create an Entity Prototype As a user you often want a ready set of models to use As described in section 4 2 you can decorate your entities with the graphics and sub system properties you want To save a setting for an entity select it and choose Save Entity in the Entity menu You can also right click the entity in the entity list in the Scenario Inspector and select Save Entity from the popup menu 4 4 Editing a Prototype To edit an existing prototype add it to your scenario and modify it there Then save it by using Save Entity as described above with the same name Don t forget to remove the prototype when you are done editing it unless you want it to be a part of the current scenario file 21 FOI R 3625 SE 5 Running a Scenario In this section how to run a scenario in MDA will be explained through the example of the simple air duel that is the default scenario The default scenario is preloaded with two aircrafts one called Carrier and the other Target Selecting the Carrier in the entity list allows the user to examine the entity properties in the Entity Inspector In the Info tab in the Entity Inspector it can be seen that the Carrier is located at an altitude of 1000 meters traveling at 100 m s
41. om the simulation There are two different types of logging actors included in MDA the Scenario Entity Logger and the Component Logger The Scenario Entity Logger logs the position velocity orientations and events for all the entities in the scenario The Component Logger acts on a specific entity and is capable of logging a significant part of all sub models of the entity In chapter 6 a more detailed description of logging is given 2 5 Drawable Object Model This entity drawable let you associate 3D model a Wavefront 3D obj file for visualization of your entity There is a collection of object models shipped with MDA that you can use 2 6 EMChannel Drawables There is a collection of scenario drawables that draw the EMRecievers EMRe flectors and EMEmitters currently registered in EMChannel 14 3 User Interface The MDA user interface revolves around the main window which can be seen in figure 3 1 The main window consist of four sections To the left is the Scenario Inspector which contains information related to the scenario In the middle there is a 3D view of the scenario is displayed and to the right the Entity Inspector is displayed which contains information related to the currently selected entity A toolbar with control for the scenario runtime is available in the top of the main window Both the Scenario Inspector and the Entity Inspector can be rearranged within the main window You can also resize them and drag them
42. or ap pearances in the scenario such as adding a RCS signature to a target coloring hostile entities red generating log files for all entities in the scenario etc Components in MDA are organized into different categories Scenario com ponents are separated from entity components see figure 2 1 where scenario components act globally on the whole scenario and entity components act on a single entity in the scenario The scenario and entity components are divided into actors drawables and attachables The concept of actors and drawables are available as both sce nario components and entity components while attachable are only available for entity components Actors are components that influence the simulation often by user input An example of a entity actor is a component that launches a missiles when the user presses a button Drawables are components that add visualization to the scenario or to the entity Attachables are passive components that add extended but passive func tionality like and RCS or TR signatures Entity Component Elena Actor Drawable Attachable Figure 2 1 The components in MDA are grouped into scenario components and entity com ponents The concept of actors and drawables are available for both scenario components and entity components while attachables are only available for entity components Scenario Component Section 3 1 covers the user interface for acces
43. out of the main view to become floating tool views MDA is filled with tooltips that appears when hovering over the different GUI elements with the mouse pointer e MDA SAVALON_HOME MDA mermocs DefaultScenario mermoc Entity Inspector ie Actors Drawables AURA Actors Drawables Attachables Scenario Entities Info Name Carrier Cid Type RudimentaryAircraft DisType Platform Air Fighter Air Marking Blue Cid 7 Placement north 0 00 east 0 00 alt 1000 00 head 0 00 pitch 0 00 roll 0 00 u 100 00 v 0 00 w 0 00 p 0 00 a 0 00 rm 0 00 mach 0 30 a 000 B 0 00 Fraction Fraction settings Blue al Group common Open Fraction Manager Add Remove a g Figure 3 1 MDA user interface To the left is the Scenario Inspector to the right is the Entity Inspector and in the middle the scenario is displayed in 3D 3 1 Scenario Inspector Properties related to the scenario is provided in the the Scenario Inspector It contains three different tabs Entities Actors and Drawables In the bottom of each tab view there is an Add button to add entities actors or drawables depending on the active tab For the Entities tab there is also a remove button Removing scenario actors and drawables is instead done by pressing the cross icon see figure 3 2 3 1 1 Entities Tab The Entities tab see figure 3 2a
44. own menu where you can select which target you want to fire at When pressing the popup menu both the Target and Carrier entity names are listed in the menu The Carrier name is followed by a self tag informing you that this is your own entity Make sure the Target entity is selected or the entity will try to fire against itself In the 3D view there will be a green box for each available target and a line from the carrier to the selected target As can be seen in figure 5 1 there is a selection for Automatic fire If this is selected a missile will automatically be launched when the simulation start This is mostly intended for offline and batch simulations The Launch Missile actor also provides the capability of launching the missile with different engagement order numbers EON and in different launch modes These depend on which type of missile is used 5 1 2 Aircraft Radar Shifting to the Attachables tab an attachable called merlin_RadarProxy can be seen This is a simple ideal radar providing the capability to send link to the selected munition In the 3D view this radar which is an EMEmitter is displayed as a red transparent cone The radar can be removed by pressing the cross icon at the far right of the merlin_RadarProxy component see figure 5 3 In the 3D view the red cone representing the emitting radar device has now disappeared Switching back to the actors tab there will also be a warning message in the Launch Missile
45. parameter variation functionality will be described through an example based on the Default Scenario delivered along with MDA 7 1 Overview How to Use the built in parameter variation engine in MDA can be described in a series of steps Step 1 Design you scenario in MDA by setting up and configuring the models you want to include Make sure the scenario can run without any user interactions For example make sure to use features such as the Launch Missile s automatic fire see section 5 Step 2 Setup End Conditions that will terminate the simulation You can use the built in variants or create your own solutions see section 5 8 Step 3 Add loggers for the data you want to extract and evaluate see chapter 6 Step 4 Save the edited scenario The variation engine uses the saved scenario file to run the scenario with different settings If the scenario is not saved the engine will not run the scenario with correct setup Step 5 Select which parameters that should be varied and how they should vary This is the parameter dialog that appears if you select Parameter variation in the Simulation menu Step 6 Run the parameter variation Step 7 Analyze the results In version 1 2 of MDA it is only possible to vary parameters that are single floating point values like mass time etc This means that it is not possible to vary parameters like vectors It is possible to vary parameters of sub models that appears as a link to anoth
46. plays all scenario actors contained in the scenario The scenario actors helps you to control the simulation You can add scenario actors to the scenario by clicking the Add actor button at the bottom of the tab Press the add button and a file dialog displaying all available scenario actors will appear You can remove existing scenario actors by pressing the remove icon placed on the right side of the component name 3 1 3 Drawables Tab This tab see figure 3 2c displays all scenario drawables contained in the sce nario Similarly to the Actors tab you can add scenario drawables to the scenario by clicking the Add drawable button at the bottom of the tab You can remove existing scenario drawables by pressing the remove icon placed on the right side of the component name 16 3 2 Entity Inspector The entity inspector which is located in the right section of the MDA main window displays properties of the currently selected entity It consists of four tabs Info Actors Drawables and Attachables see figure 3 3 The actor drawable and attachable tabs contain elements that decorate the platform These can be a subsystem such as a radar signature an attachable a 3D graphics model of an F 16 a drawable or a user interface to select configure and fire a missile an actor As a user you can add a lot of features to the entities by adding different sets of actors drawables and attachables A set of different components are include
47. raft method getPositionE is selected for logging By hovering over each method with the mouse pointer you get a tooltip de scribing the method Logging is enabled by clicking the checkbox next to the method name You can also specify how often you want the logger to query the methods for each component The default sampling time for logging is set to 0 02 seconds i e 50 Hz If you save the scenario all logging settings are saved and therefore persistent the next time you open the scenario Currently the Component Logger functionally is fairly complex and unintuitive for non MERLIN developers It is however a powerful method to probe into the behavior of subcomponents of complex models and is therefore provided with MDA and described in this document 6 2 2 Automatically creating Component Loggers In many cases models are created during the execution of the scenario One example of this is missiles Many missiles can be fired during a scenario and adding loggers manually to the missile entities becomes a lot of work lThe GUI display all components inside the model in the order they appear in the mermoc file If you open up the components you find a list of all the available methods for that particular component 32 To solve this problem a scenario Actor called act_ComponentLoggerAttacher is provided with MDA This scenario Actor lets you specify a specific model filename see figure 6 2 e g xmo_ActiveRadarX1 mermoc and provide
48. s prepared with a radar and an actor to be able to fire missiles Using the default scenario as a start is often a good idea for a new users but if you want to start a new scenario from scratch select New Scenario under the File menu A new scenario will contain no entities no scenario actors drawables 4 1 Adding Entities Adding entities to the scenario can be done either by selecting New Entity under the entities menu or by pressing the Add button on the bottom under the Entities tab in the Scenario Inspector When doing so a file dialog showing will appear displaying all entities installed on your system For an entity to show up in this dialog it need to implement the MERLIN IMutableScenarioEntity interface MERLIN IMissiles are however not displayed here In the file dialog decorated entities are also displayed 4 2 Decorating Entities Selectively adding functionality to entities is a key concept in MDA The three different ways to add functionality to an entity are the Actors Drawables and Attachables see section 3 2 We call a simulation model that has one or several of these add on s a decorated model entity To decorate an entity select it in the Scenario Inspector to display the prop erties of the entity in the Entity Inspector You can then browse the deco rations already associated with the entity and their settings To add a new actor drawable attachable use the Entities menu or the Add button at the bottom of the E
49. s the user with a similar GUI as for the ComponentLogger where subcomponents can be selected for logging As soon as an entity is created that matches the model filename a ComponentLogger is automatically added to that entity with the same logging settings as specified in the scenario actor template see figure 6 3 Scenario Inspector Remove entities when hit Attach logger to entity No Logger Prototype Set entityMermoc Figure 6 2 An MDA ComponentLoggerAttacher scenario actor just added to the scenario but still not configured Scenario Inspector Scenario Ins Entities Actors Drawables jeEntities Factors Drzwablesuj Remove entities when hit Remove entities when hit PISTA PERO Attach logger to entity merlin_ActivationGroup 0 02 MER GLARE SED 9 02 merlin_ActivationGroup 0 02 E 9 02 xmo_LaunchManagerSimple 10 02 SS 0 02 xmo_TargetManagerSimple 0 02 EA Sue ne 0 02 xmo_PNGuidance 0 02 ERSTE 0 02 xmo_AerodynamicsSimple 0 02 SS 0 02 xmo_RocketStageSimple 0 02 oli cenere 0 02 xmo_MissileDynamics 0 02 IS 0 02 aorta nicest 0 02 xmo_NavigationSystemldeal 0 02 xmo_AntennaDiagramldeal 0 02 HI SOUT ELA 0 02 xmo_Seekerldeal 0 02 amo Seekerideal 0 02 xmo_MissileLinkMessageReceiver 0 02 getSeekerType xmo_Missile 0 02 getSeekerState 4 xmo_ProximitySensor 10 02 Get the current SeekerState xmo_Battery 0 02 xmo_MissileLinkMessageReceiver 0 02 xmo_LowClosingVelocityDetector 0
50. sing the scenario components and section 3 2 for accessing the entity components In the following sections some of the more important components actors drawables attachables that are shipped with MDA are reviewed In appendix A a complete list of all the components shipped with the standard release of MDA is presented 13 FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE 2 1 Launch Missile The LaunchMissile entity actor equips an entity with the capability to fire munitions Most aspects regarding preparation of a MERLIN missile can be configured in the GUI You are able to choose among different firing modes engagement order number and target IR missiles can be opened and slaved while attached to the aircraft 2 2 Signatures If you want your entities to be detectable by various systems you must add suitable signatures to them Radar systems require the existence of a radar cross section RCS signature for an entity to be detected Infrared IR sys tems require an IREmitter signature to be detectable In MDA signatures are implemented as attachables 2 3 Radar If your missile needs radar up link you must setup your carrier with a radar This is performed in the same way as adding a signature to an entity see section 2 2 In all MDA installations there is an ideal radar called merlin_RadarProxy which you can use for this purpose 2 4 Logging When you examine a scenario or many sets of scenarios you likely need to log various data fr
51. st type ObjectPtrListMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt withInterface name mda_IScenarioActor gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mAdditionalServices type ObjectPtrListMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd appinfo gt 47 FOI R 3625 SE lt withInterface name merlin_IServiceControl gt lt xsd appinfo gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mFormatVersionNumber type std_stringParamMember gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt Format version number for future compatibility issues lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd element name mExitAtEndCondition type merlin_BoolParamMember minOccurs 0 gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd documentation xml lang en gt Setting if the scenario should force an application exit or pause or just output end condition data n Defaults to false Ie dont exit at endcondition lt xsd documentation gt lt xsd annotation gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd all gt lt xsd extension gt lt xsd complexContent gt lt xsd complexType gt lt xsd element gt lt xsd schema gt 48
52. the scenario actor ScenarioEntityLogger must be present in the sce nario for the ResultScenario to be created Output from the parameter vari ation example described in this chapter can be seen in figure 7 7 Notice how the missile trajectories differ due to the changed empty mass If you run the scenario you will also find that the time of impact also differs Scenario Inspector TETTE Actors Drawables Scenario Entities Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Target Carrier Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 Figure 7 7 An EmptyMass variation visualized by running the ResultScenario 40 8 Overview of MDA Extensions MDA is built using a plugin architecture and allows you to configure your simulations in endless ways without enforcing all users to suffer from unused components in their respective GUI This document only describe the available components that is part of the MDA core package Several extensions has been made for MDA and simulation models that are not part of the MDA core package This section briefly covers a few of those to make you aware of their existence 8 1 Joystick support
53. tures can be removed by pressing the cross icon in the Attachables tab or the Add attachable button The 3D visualization will disappear or appear as the signatures are removed or added For a radar missile to acquire its target the target must have a radar cross section and for an IR missile an IR signature must be present It is possible to select if a graphics object such as the SU37 3D model in figure 5 4 should be displayed or not This is done by toggling a property called mls Visible which is available in the entity Drawables tab when expanding e g the SU37 3D model component 5 3 Saving the Scenario To save the scenario select Save or Save Scenario As from the File menu The name of the saved scenario will appear as the title of the MDA main window 5 4 Firing the Missile Firing a missile is done by selecting the carrier entity and pressing the fire button in the Launch Missile component under the actors tab A new entity is then added to the Scenario Inspectors Entities list which represents the missile It is named something like Carrier_ActiveRadarX1_id3 The first substring Carrier informs us that it was the Carrier entity that created the missile the second substring ActiveRadarX1 is the name of the specific missile and finally a unique id is provided The missile has now been created but since the simulation has not yet started the missile is located at the center of the Carrier in the 3D view 5 5 Running the
54. tworking gt s raeo ed nop eie madea d b bik a a e aran 8 3 Computer Generated Forces CGF 23 23 23 24 25 26 26 26 26 26 27 27 27 29 29 29 29 30 31 31 32 32 33 35 35 35 36 36 37 37 37 39 39 FOI R 3625 SE 8 4 Missile simulation models 41 A MDA Components 43 B Scenario File Format 45 1 Introduction The Swedish Defence Research Agency has developed a realtime architecture for simulations of airborne weapon systems and platforms This architecture is called MERLIN This document describes MERLIN Defence Analyzer MDA which is an ap plication for interactively running and analyzing MERLIN models such as air crafts and missiles In MDA these models are referred to as scenario entities or just entities for short Entities can have subsystems such as radars and signatures The behavior of both entities and subsystems can be studied in MDA MDA has several ways of running controlling and displaying different features of the models This is done through three fundamental concepts in MDA Actors Drawables and Attachables These will be explained in more details in chapter 2 MDA is built upon the concept of plugins This makes it possible to extend MDA and adapt it for your specific needs by using the built in components as well as adding your own extensions MDA allows you to extended the functionality of your simulation models and GUI 1 1 Scope This doc
55. ulations that executes or waiting for execution 10 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 31 14 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 2 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 32 2012 Simulations that executes or waiting for execution 10 out of 10 INFO Mon Aug 20 12 31 15 2012 Simulated 10 scenarios Of these 0 failed INFO Mon Aug 20 12 30 33 2012 Simulations that executes or Miroop will now shut down waiting for execution 10 out of 10 resim a Progress dialog initiating b Run finished Figure 7 5 Progress of the parameter variation 7 2 7 Step 7 Analyze Results In your current working directory there will now be a directory called MIROOP_0 If you have run multiple variation executions you may have several MIROOP directories with an increasing number suffix Inside the MIROOP_0 directory you will find ten the number of variations we ran Sim_X directories each containing data for the variation runs There are also two files describing the setup of the variation These are called miroop run txt and miroop xml see figure 7 6 Inside the Sim directories there is a copy of the original scenario file Parameter VariationTest mermoc This file contains the scenario mermoc for this specific variation In this example they will look the same for all variations since the parameter that was varied was in another mermoc file Instead a folder called LocalAvalon has been created that contains the missil
56. ument describes version 1 2 of MDA and is intended to be a user manual It covers how to use the components and functionality provided in the v1 2 release but does not cover how to develop your own components for MDA 1 2 Definitions Acronyms and Abbreviations AVALON_HOME is the path to your MERLIN installation folder This path is typically set using your system environment variables Using the AVALON_HOME path MDA knows where to search for MERLIN model de pendencies and extensions to the core application The MDA application is also installed in AVALON_HOME MDA CGF Computer Generated Forces Component A software component is a module that encapsulate a set of related functionality and data DIS Distributed Interactive Simulation DIS is an IEEE standard for real time simulations See also http en wikipedia org wiki Distributed _Interactive_Simulation EMChannel is a software component in MERLIN that handles the distribu tion of electromagnetic signals between entities EMEmitter is a software component modeling an emitter of electromagnetic radiation EMReceiver is a software component modeling an object that receives and interprets electromagnetic radiation A radar is typically both an EMEmit ter and an EMReceiver FOI R 3625 SE FOI R 3625 SE EMReflector is a software component modeling objects that reflects electro magnetic radiation like aircrafts HLA High Level Architecture See http en wik
57. vent 1 merlin_BoosterlgnitionInfoEvent 1 03333 merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedinfoEvent 1 06667 merlin_LinkMsgWasReceivedInfoEvent 11 merlin_SeekerOpeninfoEvent 1 13333 merlin SeekerAcauiredTaraetinfoEvent Figure 5 5 The Missile Inspector actor is automatically added to missiles when launched and provides information about the seeker state and missile related events 5 8 End Conditions In the default scenario no end conditions for the simulation is included The simulation will continue forever It is possible to add end conditions to the scenario This is done by adding a specific actor to the scenario which is done in the Scenario Inspector under the Actors tab Two generic end condition actors are provided with MDA One called act_Max SimTimeEndCondition and one called act_GenericEventEndCondition The act_MaxSimTimeEndCondition actor allows the user to set a time when the simulation should end and the act_GenericEventEndCondition allows the user to set a MERLIN event and will stop the simulation when such an event is received An example of such an event is the merlin_MunitionDetonation TerminalEvent which is sent by missiles when detonating When an end condition actor is triggered the simulation is paused and the user can study the results of the simulation 5 9 Default Scenario Actors The default scenario has two scenario actors already setup when loaded The Remove entities when hit actor which as the name suggests remove
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search