Software-only IR image generation and reticle simulation for the HWIL testing of a single detector frequency modulated reticle seeker

摘要

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) testing of seeker systems usually requires a 5-axis flight motion simulator (FMS) coupled to expensive hardware for infrared (IR) scene generation and projection. Similar tests can be conducted by using a 3-axis flight motion simulator, bypassing the seeker optics and injecting a synthetically calculated detector signal directly into the seeker. The constantly increasing speed and memory bandwidth of high-end personal computers make them attractive software rendering platforms. A software OpenGL pipeline provides flexibility in terms of access to the rendered output, colour channel dynamic range and lighting equations. This paper describes how a system was constructed using personal computer hardware to perform closed tracking loop HWIL testing of a single detector frequency modulated reticle seeker. The main parts of the system that are described include: 1. The software-only implementation of OpenGL used to render the IR image with floating point accuracy directly to system memory. 2. The software used to inject the detector signal and extract the seeker look position. 3. The architecture used to control the flight motion simulator.