SPx Simulator Solution for C2, ECDIS & VTS Systems

Cambridge Pixel unveils SPx Simulator to test and validate complex primary radar display applications.

The sophisticated SPx Simulator software builds on Cambridge Pixel’s established SPx radar processing library to provide a flexible tool for system developers allowing multi-radar simulations or scenarios to be constructed including terrain effects, primary radar targets, secondary targets (AIS, IFF, ADS-B) and navigation data. The output of the simulator is a network stream of one or more primary videos in either SPx or Asterix formats, along with synchronised AIS tracks, primary tracks and NMEA 0183 navigation data.

SPx Simulator is aimed at developers of military and commercial radar display applications including Command and Control (C2) systems, Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) for commercial ships, and vessel traffic service (VTS) systems for monitoring marine traffic. It can also be used for tracker configuration, operator training or to demonstrate the possible radar clutter or expected radar coverage for a given location.

David Johnson, managing director, Cambridge Pixel, said: “The ability to test and validate complex radar display applications is a real problem for many of our C2, ECDIS and VTS customers as often they only get to test their systems with live data a few weeks before the project is signed off. The SPx simulator has been developed to meet this challenge and uses altitude, beamwidth and pulse length considerations in its calculations to create highly realistic radar returns from multiple radar sources. It’s a de-risking tool as it allows developers to create repeatable, synchronised data sets for system testing and validation in advance of the final integration and to iron out data flow issues before connecting to the live radar source.”

The SPx Simulator utilises terrain elevation data from NASA’s ‘Shuttle Radar Topography Mission’ and includes tiled maps and world vector shoreline displays to add context to the radar video being displayed. A Windows user-interface allows complex motions of targets and radar to be created, including effects of terrain on both the visibility of targets and the appearance of the primary radar. A radar display is built-in to the program to show the simulated radar video instantly.