ABSTRACT
This chapter provides several of the aspects of imaging simulations which are enhanced by Weather Cubes, namely path radiance, backscatter, and turbulence. In addition to Weather Cubes integration into High Energy Laser End-to-End Operational Simulation, Air Force Institute of Technology's Center for Directed Energy (AFIT CDE) developed a metric to simplify highly complex and variable phenomena while directly correlating those effects with system design complexity and performance. AFIT CDE developed a robust simulation and analysis tool, known as 4D Weather Cubes, to provide physically realistic visible-spectrum images and data tables that accurately translate propagation and atmospheric effects measured or assessed at one part of the spectrum to any other spectral region. Weather Cubes offer novel contributions to the advancement of developing and deploying defense technologies. Applications include enhancements to various modeling and simulation codes, remote sensing capabilities, and High Energy Laser system performance evaluations.
