Value aided satellite altimetry data for weapon presets

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the effect that the inclusion of satellite altimeter data has on weapon preset accuracy. GDEM data and MODAS data utilizing four satellite altimeters were used by the Weapon Acoustic Preset Program to determine the suggested presets for a Mk 48 torpedo. The acoustic coverage area generated by the program will be used as the metric to compare the two sets of outputs. The assumption is that the MODAS initialized presets will be more accurate, and, therefore, the difference between the two sets of presets can be attributed to inaccuracy on the part of the GDEM presets. Output presets were created for two different scenarios, an Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW) scenario and an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) scenario, and three different depth bands, shallow, mid, and deep. After analyzing the output, it became clear that the GDEM data predicted a weapon effectiveness that was far higher than the effectiveness predicted by the MODAS data. Also, while GDEM predicted a wide range of coverage percentages MODAS predicted a narrow range of coverage percentages.