Weather-Impact Decision Aids: Software to Help Plan Optimal Sensor and System Performance

www.stsc.hill.af.mil 17 W is ubiquitous; planning for it is an everyday occurrence, yet it still manages to foul up our plans. Recent military examples abound, such as dust clouds that grounded sorties in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo. To effectively execute missions, the military commander must be aware of the weather and its impact on his/her equipment, personnel, and operations. There are a number of weatherimpact decision aids (WIDAs) that determine weather effects on mission-selected equipment and operations. Generally, these WIDAs may be broken into two subsets: rule-based and physics-based. Rule-based WIDAs, such as the Army’s Integrated Weather Effects Decision Aid (IWEDA) [1], are constructed using observed weather impacts that have been collected from field manuals, training centers and schools, and subject matter experts. IWEDA provides information (in the form of stoplight charts) concerning which weapon systems will work best under forecast weather conditions; no information is provided concerning target acquisition range. Physics-based tactical decision aids (TDAs), such as the Tri-Service Target Acquisition Weapons Software (TAWS) [2], employ physics calculations that have their basis in theory and/or measurements. TAWS determines the probability of detecting a given target at a given range under existing or predicted weather conditions. Thus, physics-based systems produce results in terms of a performance metric that take on a continuum of values rather than the simpler stoplight results from the rule-based systems.