Automated performance evaluation technique for cryptologic sites.

Abstract

Currently, Naval Security Group (NSG) personnel lack an automated system for evaluating Signals-of-Interest (SOI) collection performance of NSG sites. The performance evaluation technique (PET) , developed by faculty and students of the Naval Postgraduate School, is intended to meet this need. A means for automating the PET has been developed under this thesis research. This "MATLAB Automated PET System" (MAPS) is described in this thesis and compared with the previous manual PET and a semi-automated version based on GRAFTOOL software. MAPS, based on the high-level language, MATLAB, utilizes measured signal and noise levels and system gains and losses to evaluate site performance in terms of percent of SOI lost. This information is critical to managers and operators of the various NSG collection sites located throughout the world. It permits managers to assess operator performance, evaluate the impact of encroachments in the vicinity of the site, determine the utility of proposed interference mitigation actions, recognize the effect of natural phenomena (such as solar storms) on the SOI collection capability, and predict future SOI collection performance. The manual, semi-automated, and automated PET systems were compared in the areas of cost, speed, ease-of-operation, and accuracy of the performance estimation. MAPS was determined to be the most useful approach for providing automated PET capabilities to the NSG sites.