Cambridge Pixel aims to simplify and speed up the development of complex radar display system design.
The company has developed a software simulator for testing primary radar display applications earlier in the design cycle and before final system integration.
“The ability to test and validate complex radar display applications is a real problem for many of our customers as often they only get to test their systems with live data a few weeks before the project is signed off,” said David Johnson, managing director, Cambridge Pixel.
The SPx simulator tackles this problem by using altitude, beam width and pulse length considerations in its calculations to create highly realistic radar returns from multiple radar sources.
“It’s a de-risking tool as it allows developers to create repeatable, synchronised data sets for system testing and validation in advance of the final integration and to iron out data flow issues before connecting to the live radar source,” said Johnson.
The software allows multi-radar simulations to be constructed including terrain effects, primary radar targets, secondary targets (AIS, IFF, ADS-B) and navigation data.
The SPx Simulator makes use of terrain elevation data from NASA’s ‘Shuttle Radar Topography Mission’ and includes tiled maps and world vector shoreline displays to add context to the radar video being displayed.
Windows user interface
A Windows user interface allows the motion of targets and radar to be created, including effects of terrain on both the visibility of targets and the appearance of the primary radar.
A radar display is built-in to the program to show the simulated radar video.
“This is a sophisticated application which further demonstrates our ability to respond to technical challenges posed by those using the SPx toolkit to develop their radar display applications,” added David Johnson.
The simulator will be used by developers of military and commercial radar display applications including command and control systems and vessel traffic service systems for monitoring marine traffic.
It can also be used for tracker configuration, operator training or to demonstrate the possible radar clutter or expected radar coverage for a given location.
