Interoperability Testing Using the Hardware-in-the-Loop Test Tool

摘要

In the past, missile defense testing was limited to models and simulations, which provided maximum flexibility but often lacked realism, or to live fire testing, which provided realism but proved very expensive. Over the years, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), in concert with its Army and Navy Executive Agents, has developed a test tool that not only bridges the gap between these two methods but has the capability to fully integrate theater missile defense weapons and systems using tactical hardware and software. The Joint National Test Facility (JNTF) currently houses this test tool, called the Theater Missile Defense System Exerciser (TMDSE). This tool is used in Hardware in the Loop (HWIL) tests to evaluate the interoperability and assess the operational performance of the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) Family of Systems (FoS). It stimulates tactical weapon systems in a controlled testbed environment, enabling them to react as in live theater conflict. TMDSE is the first platform to provide a ballistic missile defense test capability that is fully interactive, geographically distributed, multi-service, and that operates in real time. HWIL tests using the TMDSE have been successfully conducted nationally with such TMD FoS assets as the Army's Phased Array Tracking to Intercept of Target (PATRIOT) and Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the Navy's AEGIS weapon system, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD) segment, and the Air Force's Aerospace Fusion Center (AFC) (formerly SHIELD), among others. This presentation introduces the BMDO's TMDSE tool and includes actual test data results. In addition, it discusses HWIL tests conducted at the JNTF, the test approach, and the methods employed to achieve: (1) interoperability testing of TMD FoS on the national level, (2) risk mitigation for live fire testing, and (3) significant cost savings.