Thermal modeling in the Smart Weapons Operability Enhancement program, Part 1: natural terrain backgrounds without vegetation

The Smart Weapons Operability Enhancement (SWOE) Program has developed a package of databases, physics and scene rendering models, and analysis procedures that can be used by developers and testers of smart weapons to test and evaluate future smart weapons systems under realistic environmental conditions and natural backgrounds. This resource is being used to evaluate both infrared and millimeter wave systems. In the case of infrared systems, the driving force for the radiant fields that are ultimately sensed are the temperature fields in the scene. In the SWOE Program, a series of detailed thermal models are used to calculate the temperature conditions of the surfaces and objects in the scene. These models can be used to calculate the temperatures for a variety of surfaces and a full range of environmental conditions, including winter and non-winter conditions. This paper summarizes the one dimensional heat conduction model that is used to calculate the temperature conditions for surfaces without vegetation.