Radio Network Automation for Operational Testing
White Paper
This paper summarizes the research conducted by General Dynamics in cooperation with the United States Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEOSTRI) in the development of a Radio Network Planning application that leverages Scalable Network Technologies (SNT; now part of Keysight Technologies, and quoted as Keysight throughout this paper) Radio Frequency (RF) modeling combined with the visualization power of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Web WorldWind open source virtual globe Application Programming Interface (API). The resultant product delivered to the U.S. Army at Ft. Hood Operational Test Command (OTC) site permits Test Officers with no previous Radio Frequency (RF) training to identify the optimal network coverage automatically for different selected test range locations. The simulation considers terrain features using Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED), tower location, uplink and downlink transmission, environmental and ground effects, using pre-configured radio models for Cubic Army Mobile Instrumented Training System (AMITS) and Saab Interim Range System (IRS). The final product supports the Home Station Instrumentation Networks and Test Center networks while promoting an interactive user interface experience with graphical network coverage heat-map overlays displayed via open-source products utilized throughout the Integrated Live-Virtual-Constructive Test Environment (ILTE) product line. The methods, models and research results summarized in this paper shall be of interest to the radio networks simulation software design and development community with interest in a practical approach to Radio Network Planning.