ESM Receiver Simulator

[timmyg00]

Hi folks,


One of my (very) minor pet peeves about Sub Command and Dangerous Waters was always that the ESM suite was not adequately simulated. I know, ESM is not the primary sensor for ASW missions - but try doing an ASUW or littoral recon mission without it! And of course, I am biased, having been an ESM technician while I was in the navy...


So I always thought "when I learn a bit of programming, I'll make my own ESM simulator to show my fellow subsimmers what a real ESM suite might look like if it happened to be included in one of our sims." So I took what I learned during my programming courses, studied and practiced a bit of C++ programming on the Windows OS (via Visual Studio), and whipped up my own little ESM receiver simulator. I say "whipped up" as if it took only a little bit of time, but in truth, I have been working on this since the summer of '08, and in the meantime I have been maintaining/landscaping my house, spending time with my new wife and pets, working, and just generally living life, and BOY does that get in the way of hobbies!!!


Please keep in mind that this is a crude little receiver simulator. There's a lot more I'd love to put in it, but of course, that all depends on how much interest is generated by this small example.


What the ESM Receiver Simulator version 0.5 has now:

• a display for a single frequency band; back when I was sitting the ESM stack, it was known as the I-band, 8000 to 10000 MHz
• One pulse analysis display for measuring the Pulse Repetition Interval (PRI) of a radar emitter in microseconds (us), from which the Pulse Repetition Frequency can be obtained
• Another pulse analysis display for measuring the Pulse Width (PW) in microseconds (us) of a radar emitter
• An "automeasure" function, which "measures" the signal of interest and displays its parameters in a separate readout
• A button to start the simulation
• A button to end the simulation

What I would like to add to the ESM Receiver Simulator:

• A signal environment that would be randomized every time the simulator was started. Currently, the program displays four radar emitters of fixed parameters, for demonstration purposes.
• User-selectable emitter density, that is, the number of emitters in the signal environment. For example, a littoral environment would have a high emitter density, while a blue-water environment, say, in the middle of the Pacific, would have a low emitter density.
• More frequency bands. Real-world ESM systems monitor from 250 MHz up to 40000 MHz.
• More emitter scan types. Currently, the four emitters in the demo simulate circular-scan radars. There are several scan types that could be added – sector, raster, spiral, electronic (phased-array)…
• Adjustable reticles on the Pulse analysis displays. Currently, the reticles are fixed.
• Better pulse shaping for the pulse analysis displays. Right now, the analysis signals are sharp rectangular pulses. This does not happen in the real world.
• Audio output for the "signal of interest"
• Direction finding (RDF). This function is the only one that is really modeled well in SC/DW, probably based on the ADF system that was being installed in the 688 boats around the time I was getting out of the USN (1997).
• Library matching. This function is modeled in SC/DW, but gives you the emitter type and platform immediately, rather than a range of possible emitter types.
• A better skin - buttons, knobs, etc.
• Better graphics in general

Many of these features will require a substantial re-work of the code, but the code needs re-work anyway. The current product is a result of adding code as I learned how to do certain things, and I learned “on the fly” for much of it, so there wasn’t as much pre-planning as I would have liked for many of the features.


I’ll be interested in any reactions to this little sim. Chances are that you won’t hurt my feelings with criticism unless you’re a real a-hole, so don’t be shy…


You should be able to find the simulator at CADC's file repository, once the moderator has approved it