Proceedings Article | 4 May 2012
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Signal processing, Atmospheric propagation, Data modeling, Radio propagation, Atmospheric modeling, Electro optical modeling, Infrared signatures, Target detection, Infrared radiation
Effective use of passive and active sensors for surveillance, security, and intelligence must consider terrain and
atmospheric effects on the sensor performance. Several years ago, U.S. Army ERDC undertook development of software
for modeling environmental effects on target signatures, signal propagation, and battlefield sensors for many signal
modalities (e.g., optical, acoustic, seismic, magnetic, radio-frequency, chemical, biological, and nuclear). Since its
inception, the software, called Environmental Awareness for Sensor and Emitter Employment (EASEE), has matured
and evolved significantly for simulating a broad spectrum of signal-transmission and sensing scenarios. The underlying
software design involves a flexible, object-oriented approach to the various stages of signal modeling from emission
through processing into inferences. A sensor placement algorithm has also been built in for optimizing sensor selections
and placements based on specification of sensor supply limitations, coverage priorities, and wireless sensor
communication requirements. Some recent and ongoing enhancements are described, including modeling of active
sensing scenarios and signal reflections, directivity of signal emissions and sensors, improved handling of signal feature
dependencies, extensions to realistically model additional signal modalities such as infrared and RF, and XML-based
communication with other calculation and display engines.
