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WIN-EOTDA is a Navy strike warfare mission-planning tool based on the original Electrooptical Tactical Decision Aid (EOTDA) developed by the US Air Force in the 1980s. The WIN- EOTDA has been adapted to US Navy applications by adding a MS-Windows graphical user interface, Navy sensors and targets, and an improved ocean background model, atmospheric transmission model and sky radiance mode. Future requirements for the WIN-EOTDA include the addition of scene rendering capability, modeling in the midwave IR band, and scenarios involving near surface sensor heights. This report uses data collected during the Electrooptical Propagation Assessment in Coastal Environments (EOPACE) trials to discuss the current Navy improvements to the original ocean background model as well as improvements needed to meet the future Naval requirements. The current improvements involve replacing the original semi-empirical water background model with a combination of the MODTRAN sky radiance model and the SeaRad ocean radiance model. The SeaRad model is a rigorous geometric capillary wave model based on the Cox and Munk wave-slope statistical model. WHile the SeaRad model is suitable for moderate wind, high altitude, slant-path sensor configurations, it is inadequate for the near-surface scenarios required for the future replacement for the WIN- EOTDA. A near-surface water background model must include wave swell and effects of whitecaps. It must be coupled with an atmospheric model that includes refraction and scintillation effects. This report discusses the current improvements to the WIN-EOTDA and how algorithms used for IR Search and Track development, such as in IRTool, could be adapted to meet future requirements. The eventual replacement for WIN-EOTDA is a software program under development by the US Air Force called Target Acquisition Weather Software. The results of this case study indicate the combined SeaRad and MODTRAN modifications improve ocean background prediction performance for the high-altitude strike warfare view angles. This addition of a clutter model, such as in IRTool, may make the ocean background model suitable for surface warfare and near-horizon scenarios. However, this hypothesis warrants further investigation.
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