Producing Target Models at a Central Facility. Assessment Methodology.

Abstract : This report develops a methodology for assessing the capabilities of a notional central facility to support the detailed terminal-area mission planning-in particular, building target models-required by autonomous precision-guided weapons (PGWs) with target-imaging sensors. Specifically, this work defines the functions that a central facility has to perform to build target models, provides representative time estimates for completing those functions, and then determines daily production rates for target models under a range of conditions. To place the methodology in the context of existing organizations, existing systems, and potential new capabilities, the report defines three alternative designs for a central facility. The central facility concept is the initial building block for the alternative intelligence-support and mission-planning architectures for autonomous PGWs described in a companion report (Hura and McLeod, 1993), in that it provides additional information on the ability of a notional central facility to produce target models. Although the focus is on autono- mous PGWs with imaging infrared sensors, much of the methodology for building target models also applies to other target-imaging sensors.