Use of a Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation to Determine System Performance as Part of a Shelf Life Extension Study for an Air Defense Missile System

摘要

Defense resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Our weapon systems are expected to perform beyond their designed shelf life. Simulation can play a key role in assisting in shelf life assessment. This paper describes the role of a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulation in a shelf life extension study for an air defense missile system. The contents of the paper are: 1) a description of the missile system and the HWIL simulation, 2) a brief overview of the simulation validation process, which demonstrates the simulation's capability of predicting the performance of an individual missile, 3) a description of the shelf life study and 4) how the HWIL simulation is used to determine the baseline performance of the test missiles used in the study and to determine performance of the test missiles as they are artificially aged.