Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited. / High-resolution combat simulations that model urban combat currently use computationally expensive algorithms to represent urban target acquisition at the entity level. While this may be suitable for small-scale urban combat scenarios, simulation run time can become unacceptably long for larger scenarios. Consequently, there is a need for models that can lend insight into target acquisition in urban terrain for largescale scenarios in an acceptable length of time. This research develops urban target acquisition models that can be substituted for existing physicsbased or computationally expensive combat simulation algorithms and result in faster simulation run time with an acceptable loss of aggregate simulation accuracy. Specifically, this research explores (1) the adaptability of probability of line of sight estimates to urban terrain; (2) how cumulative distribution functions can be used to model the outcomes when a set of sensors is employed against a set of targets; (3) the uses for Markov Chains and Event Graphs to model the transition of a target among acquisition states; and (4) how a system of differential equations may be used to model the aggregate flow of targets from one acquisition state to another. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

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The ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has a vast unlicensed frequency spectrum, which can support precise indoor positioning in orders of centimeters. The features of UWB signals can be utilized for variety of applications. In this project first we present an empirical channel models to analyze the localization accuracy of the UWB technology for interactive electronic gaming (Ping-Pong) in Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Obstructed LOS (OLOS) scenarios. Then we introduce a new concept that we refer to as micro-gesture detection to handle the more refined motions of the hand, such as rotation, while one antenna is held by the user using features of UWB signal. We use four specific features of the UWB signals: time of arrival, power of the first peak, total power, and the Root-Mean Square (RMS) of the delay spread, for this purpose. As the hand rotates the position of the antenna in the hand and the external antenna changes from LOS to OLOS. We demonstrate that features of the UWB signals are more useful than the RSS signal of the Wi-Fi to detect this class of micro-gestures. We foresee this micro-gesture detection capabilities become helpful for the people with limited ability or visually impaired for implementation of simplified sign language to communication with electronic devices located away from a person. We compare gesture detection using multiple features of the UWB signal with traditional gesture detection using the received signal strength (RSS) of the Wi-Fi signal.

At present, the current 4G systems provide a universal platform for broadband mobile services; however, mobile traffic is still growing at an unprecedented rate and the need for more sophisticated broadband services is pushing the limits on current standards to provide even tighter integration between wireless technologies and higher speeds. This has led to the need for a new generation of mobile communications: the so-called 5G. Although 5G systems are not expected to penetrate the market until 2020, the evolution towards 5G is widely accepted to be the logical convergence of internet services with existing mobile networking standards leading to the commonly used term “mobile internet” over heterogeneous networks, with several Gbits/s data rate and very high connectivity speeds. Therefore, to support highly increasing traffic capacity and high data rates, the next generation mobile network (5G) should extend the range of frequency spectrum for mobile communication that is yet to be identified by the ITU-R. The mm-wave spectrum is the key enabling feature of the next-generation cellular system, for which the propagation channel models need to be predicted to enhance the design guidance and the practicality of the whole design transceiver system. The present work addresses the main concepts of the propagation channel behaviour using ray tracing software package for simulation and then results were tested and compared against practical analysis in a real-time environment. The characteristics of Indoor-Indoor (LOS and NLOS), and indoor-outdoor (NLOS) propagations channels are intensively investigated at four different frequencies; 5.8 GHz, 26GHz, 28GHz and 60GHz for vertical polarized directional, omnidirectional and isotropic antennas patterns. The computed data achieved from the 3-D Shooting and Bouncing Ray (SBR) Wireless Insite based on the effect of frequency dependent electrical properties of building materials. Ray tracing technique has been utilized to predict multipath propagation characteristics in mm-wave bands at different propagation environments. Finally, the received signal power and delay spread were computed for outdoor-outdoor complex propagation channel model at 26 GHz, 28 GHz and 60GHz frequencies and results were compared to the theoretical models.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Two separate imaging payloads were successfully operated using a wireless line-of-sight telemetry system that was developed as part of a recently completed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) imaging campaign over the largest coffee plantation in the USA. The objective was to demonstrate the performance of “off-the-shelf” wireless technology in an effort to reduce the cost of line-of-sight telemetry for imaging payloads on UAVs. Pre-deployment tests using a conventional twin-engine piloted aircraft at a flight height of 10k ft demonstrated successful broadband connectivity between a rapidly moving (ca. 280 km hr^(-1)) airborne WLAN (wireless local area network) and a fixed ground station WLAN. This paper details the performance of the wireless telemetry system on a slow-flying (<50 km hr^(-1)) solar-powered UAV at a flight height of 6.4 km.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The terminal phase telemetry data acquisition has always been a challenging task especially for long and medium range test launches. The task becomes more complicated if the article under test describes a very low altitude cruise terminal phase trajectory. Generally, for long and medium range missions test fired into sea the terminal phase data is acquired by deploying instrumented ships in the vicinity of impact point but beyond the safety corridor. But for long range missions with low altitude cruise terminal phase trajectory and wide safety corridor this conventional approach will not work out because of limitation of LOS from the ship platforms. Hence, for such applications an air borne telemetry receiving system is also to be added to the down range instrumentation network. This paper describes a typical and cost effective air borne system realized utilizing the Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) products and technology. This paper also addresses as to how the signal scattering problems are tackled in the design implementation.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) can deliver real-time battlefield video directly to the soldier providing unprecedented situational awareness. The video communications system must be compact, lightweight, secure, and easy to deploy without a complicated ground station. Pacific Microwave Research, Inc. is developing a system capable of providing reliable and secure video communications to handheld terminals throughout the theater. PMR’s Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (COFDM) video transmission system is designed for tactical video transmission in battlefield or Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) environments. Using digital modulation coding, the system provides a very robust link in the mobile environment.

Wireless communication systems have evolved substantially over the last two decades. The explosive growth of the wireless communications market is expected to continue in the future, as the demand for all types of wireless services is increasing. Beside providing higher data rates, next generation wireless networks (NGWN) are expected to have advanced capabilities such as interoperability, efficient spectrum utilization along with a wide variety of applications over different domains (e.g., public safety and military, aeronautical networks, femtocells, and so on) to the mobile users while serving as many users as possible. However, these advanced capabilities and services must be achieved under the constraint of limited available resources such as electromagnetic spectrum and power. In addition, NGWNs (and nodes within) need to modify themselves under rapidly changing conditions such as wireless propagation channel characteristics, traffic load, and so on. Moreover, NGWNs are expected to optimize their parameters by evaluating their experiences in the past. All of these characteristics imply that NGWNs should be equipped with cognitive capabilities including sensing, awareness, adaptation and responding to changing conditions along with learning about the past experiences. In this dissertation, environment, channel, and interference awareness are investigated in detail for NGWN. Methods for being aware of environment, channel, and interference are provided along with some possible ways of adapting several design parameters of NGWNs. In addition, cross-layer optimization issues are addressed from the perspective of both recently emerging technology called cognitive radio (CR) and NGWN.

<p>This thesis serves as an introduction to anyone that has an interest in artificial intelligence games and has experience in programming or anyone who knows nothing of computer games but wants to learn about it. The first part will present a brief introduction to AI, then it will give an introduction to games and game programming for someone that has little knowledge about games. This part includes game programming terminology, different game genres and a little history of games. Then there is an introduction of a couple of common techniques used in game AI. The main contribution of this dissertation is in the second part where three techniques that never were properly implemented before 3D games took over the market are introduced and it is explained how they would be done if they were to live up to today’s standards and demands. These are: line of sight, image recognition and pathfinding. These three techniques are used in today’s 3D games so if a 2D game were to be released today the demands on the AI would be much higher then they were ten years ago when 2D games stagnated. The last part is an evaluation of the three discussed topics.</p>

The visibility-aware path planner addresses the problem of path planning for target visibility. It computes sequences of motions that afford a line of sight to a stationary visual target for sensors on a robotic platform. The visibility-aware planner uses a model of the visible region, namely, the region of the task space in which a line of sight exists to the target. The planner also takes the orientation of the sensor into account, utilizing a model of the field of view frustum. The planner applies a penalty to paths that cause the sensor to lose target visibility by exiting the visible region or rotating so the target is not in the field of view. The planner applies these penalties to the edges in a probabilistic roadmap, providing weights in the roadmap graph for graph-search based planning algorithms. This thesis presents two variants on the planner. The static multi-query planner precomputes penalties for all roadmap edges and performs a best-path search using Dijkstra's algorithm. The dynamic single-query planner uses an iterative test-and-reject search to find paths of acceptable penalty without the benefit of precomputation. Four experiments are presented which validate the planners and present examples of the path planning for visibility on 6-DOF robot manipulators. The algorithms are statistically tested with multiple queries. Results show that the planner finds paths with significantly lower losses of target visibility than existing shortest-path planners.