Radar Simulator
How can I generate simulated analogue radar video?
SPx Radar Simulator combined with HPx-310 radar output card can generate realistic simulated radar scenarios with radar returns from terrain and moving targets. Analogue radar video is supplied in standard four-wire format: video, trigger, ACP, ARP.
Does the Simulator calculate the detectability of targets, based on radar power and target RCS?
SPx Radar Simulator is intended to provide a controllable source of realistic-looking radar video. It does not model the RF characteristics of real radars, instead it allows control over high-level settings, such as beam width and pulse length, which may be adjusted until the video picture looks as wanted.
SPx Radar Simulator will account for terrain obscuration and radar end range when generating target video returns. Also, the targets’ RCS values are used to determine the amplitude of their returns as a function of range from the radar.
How can I combine synthetic targets with real radar video?
SPx Radar Simulator can combine radar video from an auxiliary source with simulated targets. The auxiliary source may be a CPR radar recording file, a network input (SPx or ASTERIX CAT-240 format), or directly from an HPx hardware capture card. When using an auxiliary source, the simulated radar properties such as period and end range will be set based on the auxiliary source.
What can I do if the terrain data available within SPx Radar Simulator is not accurate enough or missing important structures?
SPx Radar Simulator uses SRTM terrain data by default, which provides reasonable resolution terrain data for the whole world. If you have DTED or GeoTIFF terrain data available then this can be used in addition to or instead of the SRTM data, configured within the terrain configuration dialog. Alternatively buildings may be drawn manually or loaded for Shapefiles to be combined with terrain information, when a static radar is being simulated.
My simulated target is not appearing within generated radar video. How can I find out why?
Use the visibility status dialog from within the target configuration dialog to debug target visibility issues. If a target is not visible, then one of the indicators within the visibility dialog will be red. A tooltip will be available indicating how to resolve the issue. When multiple radars are being simulated, separate visibility status indicators will be available for each radar.
What options are available for simulating noise within SPx Radar Simulator?
Various types of noise can be simulated - background noise and near noise within generated radar video, noise in detected target positions, noise in detected target size and noise in measured platform position, course, heading and speed.
How can I view ASTERIX CAT-240 radar video on my phone or tablet?
You could connect your phone’s web browser to the SPx Radar Web Server if you have a network connection to it.
Why does the Simulator accept radar as an input?
The Simulator generates radar as an output, but optionally is can accept radar as an input to combine with the simulated radar. This allows simulated targets to be inserted into existing radar recordings.
What types of target does the Simulator generate?
Targets are created within the simulator. Each target can be configured to generate any combination of AIS, primary or secondary video. For example, a target could be designated as AIS only, or can be configured to generate AIS and primary radar, both as video and a track.
Is there a Linux version of the Simulator?
The Simulator is Windows only at present.
Can the Simulator be controlled from a separate application as a server?
Yes, there is an API to remote control.
Can the Simulator be used with my existing scenario generator to control the motion of targets?
Yes. The Simulator has a built-in scenario generator, but this does not need to be used. If target positions are controlled by an existing scenario generator, the Simulator can be used to convert target positions into radar video, tracks or AIS. The existing scenario generator will need to report changes in target positions to the Simulator at regular intervals.