Visualization of Battlefield Obscurants

Abstract

The EOSAEL Combined Obscuration Model for Battlefield Contaminants (COMBIC) module models the transmittance of seven electro-optical wavelengths through 30 obscurant sources types. Designed as a war gaming tool, COMBIC computes the transmissivity along selected lines of sight, but does not allow realistic visualization of the obscurants. Because of their amorphous nature, obscurant clouds are particularly difficult to model with traditional computer graphics techniques, which employ flat polygons to model clearly defined features. Grumman Data Systems has developed non-traditional computer graphics techniques using fractal ellipsoids to model clouds realistically but economically. This paper describes work initiated by the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center to integrate Grumman graphics technology with COMBIC to provide realistic visualization of battlefield obscurants. COMBIC Phase I subroutines are used to generate an obscurant cloud envelope. This envelope is then filled with fractal ellipsoids which can be manipulated dynamically to generate animated sequences of the obscurant's development. visualization, obscurants, amorphous, fractal ellipsoids, smoke.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1991
Accession Number
ADA254236

Entities

People

  • G. M. Hardaway

Organizations

  • Army Geospatial Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Battlefields
  • Computer Graphics
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Ellipsoids
  • Engineering
  • Geometric Forms
  • Geometry
  • Graphics
  • Line Of Sight
  • Mass Production
  • Procedures (Computers)
  • Surface Properties
  • Three Dimensional
  • Visualizations

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Computer Vision.
  • Software Engineering