Argument Types

This section describes the format of the various command arguments.

Primitive Types

boolean-value

boolean

A value with two states: true & false:

Value	Allowable Input Values
true	true on yes enable enabled
false	false off no disable disabled unknown

string-value

string

file-name

A contiguous set of printable characters that are surrounded by ‘white-space’ (blank tab new-line).

Note: In some cases (mostly where a string value is being used to provide a file name) the string may be surrounded by quote marks and may contain white space characters. Quoted string values are not allowed where they might appear in an output file and potentially cause post-processing problems.

integer-value

integer

Any numerical value that is generally accepted as an integer value by C, C++ and FORTRAN programming languages. For example:

1
6
-33

positive-integer

Any numerical value that is generally accepted as an non-negative integer value by C, C++ and FORTRAN programming languages (i.e.: not preceded by a minus sign). For example:

1
6
33

real-value

real

Any numerical value that is generally accepted as double precision floating point value by the C, C++ and FORTRAN programming languages. The decimal point can be omitted if there is no fractional value. Examples:

1.5
9.67e10
42

Types with Units

acceleration-value <real> <acceleration-units>

acceleration-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Length/Time2	<length-units>/<time-units>^2 <length-units>/<time-units>2
standard gravity	g

Examples:

10 m/s^2
10 m/s2
1 g

angle-value <real> <angle-units>

angle-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
degrees	deg degree degrees
radians	rad radian radians
mils	mil mils
arcseconds	arcsecond arcseconds

angle-rate-value <real> <angular-speed-units>

angular-speed-value <real> <angular-speed-units>

angular-speed-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Angle/Time	<angle-units>/<time-units>
revolutions/minute	rpm

angular-acceleration-value <real> <angular-acceleration-units>

angular-acceleration-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Angle/Time2	<angle-units>/<time-units>^2 <angle-units>/<time-units>2

angular-inertia-value <real> <angular-inertia-units>

angular-inertia-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Mass*|Length2|	<mass-units>* <length-units>^2

area-value <real> <area-units>

area-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Length2	<length-units>^2 <length-units>2

Examples:

1 m^2
1 m2
1 ft^2
1 ft2

capacitance-value <real> <capacitance-units>

capacitance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
farads	farads farad
millifarads	millifarads millifarad
microfarads	microfarads microfarad
nanofarads	nanofarads nanofarad
picofarads	picofarads picofarad
femtofarads	femtofarads femtofarad

current-value <real> <current-units>

current-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
amps	amps amp
milliamps	milliamps milliamp
microamps	microamps microamp
nanoamps	nanoamps nanoamp

current-density-value <real> <current-density-units>

current-density-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Current/Area	<current-units>/<area-units>

data-rate-value <real> <data-rate-units>

data-rate-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
DataSize/Time	<data-size-units>/<time-units>

data-size-value <real> <data-size-units>

data-size-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
bits	bits bit
kilobits	kbits kbit
megabits	mbits mbit
gigabits	gbits gbit
bytes	bytes
kilobytes	kbytes kbyte
megabytes	mbytes mbyte
gigabytes	gbytes gbyte

energy-value <real> <energy-units>

energy-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
joules	joules j
kilojoules	kilojoules kj

fluence-value <real> <fluence-units>

fluence-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Energy/Area	<energy-units>/<area-units>

force-value <real> <force-units>

force-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Newton	newtons newton nt
Kilogram-Force	kgf
Pound-Force	lbf lbsf

frequency-value <real> <frequency-units>

frequency-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
hertz	hz
kilohertz	khz
megahertz	mhz
gigahertz	ghz

impulse-value <real> <impulse-units>

impulse-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Force*Time	<force-units>* <time-units>

irradiance-value <real> <irradiance-units>

irradiance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Power/Area	<power-units>/<area-units>

length-value <real> <length-units>

length-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
meters	meters meter m
kilometers	kilometers km
megameters	megameters megameter
feet	feet ft
kilofeet	kfeet kft
miles	miles mile mi
nautical miles	nm nmi
centimeters	centimeters centimeter cm
millimeters	millimeters millimeter mm
micrometers	micrometers micrometer um microns micron
nanometers	nanometers nanometer
angstroms	angstroms angstrom
inches	inches inch in
astronomical_unit	au ua

Examples:

6 meters
123.5 miles
6.0e5 km

mass-density-value <real> <mass-density-units>

mass-density-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Mass/Volume	<mass-units>/<volume-units>

mass-flow-value <real> <mass-flow-units>

mass-flow-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Mass/Time	<mass-units>/<time-units>

Examples:

10 kg/s
10 lbm/sec

mass-value <real> <mass-units>

mass-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
kilograms	kilograms kg kilo kilogram
grams	grams gram g
pounds	pounds pound lbs lbm lb
kilopounds	klb
tons	tons ton
tonnes	tonnes tonne
slugs	slugs slug

power-value <real> <power-units>

power-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
watts	watts w
kilowatts	kilowatts kw
megawatts	megawatts mw
gigawatts	gigawatts gw
milliwatts	milliwatts
microwatts	microwatts

power-value-db <real> <db-power-units>

db-power-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
watts	watts w
kilowatts	kilowatts kw
megawatts	megawatts mw
gigawatts	gigawatts gw
milliwatts	milliwatts
microwatts	microwatts
dbw	dbw dBw
dbm	dbm dBm

pressure-value <real> <pressure-units>

pressure-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
pascal	Pa pa pascal
kilopascal	kPa kpa kilopascal kilopascals
micropascal	uPa upa micropascal micropascals
nanopascal	nanopascals nanopascal
pounds/inch^2	psi
pounds/foot^2	psf

radiance-value <real> <radiance-units>

radiance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Irradiance/SolidAngle	<irradiance-units>/<solid-angle-units>

ratio-value <ratio-units>

db-ratio-value <ratio-units>

ratio-units

db-ratio-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
dimensionless	absolute
dimensionless	db

resistance-value <real> <resistance-units>

resistance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
ohms	ohms ohm
microohms	microohms microohm
milliohms	milliohms milliohm
kiloohms	kiloohms kiloohm kilohms kilohm
megaohms	megaohms megaohm megohms megohm
gigaohms	gigaohms gigaohm gigohms gigohm

responsivity-value <real> <responsivity-units>

responsivity-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Current/Power	<current-units>/<power-units>

solid-angle-value <real> <solid-angle-units>

solid-angle-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
steradians	steradians steradian sr

specific-range-value <real> <specific-range-units>

specific-range-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Meters/Kilogram	m/kg
Miles/Pound	mi/lb
Miles/Kilopound	mi/klb
Nautical-Miles/Pound	nmi/lb
Nautical-Miles/Kilopound	nmi/klb

spectral-irradiance-value <real> <spectral-irradiance-values>

spectral-irradiance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Irradiance/Length	<irradiance-units>/<length-units>

spectral-radiance-value <real> <spectral-radiance-values>

spectral-radiance-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Radiance/Length	<radiance-units>/<length-units>

speed-value <speed-units>

speed-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Length/Time	<length-units>/<time-units>
meters/second	m/s
kilometers/hour	km/h kmh
feet/second	ft/s fps
feet/minute	ft/m fpm
miles/hour	mi/h mph
knots	knots kts

temperature-value <real> <temperature-units>

temperature-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
degrees Kelvin	Kelvin kelvin K k
degrees Celsius	Celsius celsius C c
degrees Fahrenheit	Fahrenheit fahrenheit F f

time-value <real> <time-units>

time-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
seconds	seconds second secs sec s
minutes	minutes minute mins min m
hours	hours hour hrs hr h
milliseconds	milliseconds millisecond msecs msec ms
microseconds	microseconds microsecond usecs usec us
nanoseconds	nanoseconds nanosecond nsecs nsec ns
days	days day

Examples:

1 hour
1 hr
60 minutes
60 min
3600 seconds
3600 sec

voltage-value <real> <voltage-units>

voltage-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
volts	volts volt v
millivolts	millivolts millivolt
microvolts	microvolts microvolt
kilovolts	kilovolts kilovolt
megavolts	megavolts megavolt

volume-value <real> <volume-unit>

volume-units

Unit of Measure	Allowable Input Values
Length3	<length-units>^3 <length-units>3

Examples:

1 m^3
1 m3
1 ft^3
1 ft2

Other Types

address

address-value

An IPV4 based address, using CIDR notation, in the following format:

<integer>.<integer>.<integer>.<integer>/<integer>

where the first four values (separated by periods) represent the IPV4 address, and the value following the forward slash represent the CIDR value, which indicates the number of bits used for network addressing. Note that the addressing values consist of values between 0 and 255, while the CIDR notation value should be between 1 and 31. Restriction to these appropriate values is not performed by the Wizard, but provision of incorrect values will be restricted by the simulation object during initialization.

An example of such an address is as follows:

192.168.1.1/24

This is the AFSIM standard method for internally consistent addressing of all comm objects in the simulation, where previous versions simply used a string. The benefit for doing so is providing the knowledge of a particular address and knowledge of network membership in a single value.

IPV6 addresses are not currently supported, but are expected in future updates.

latitude-value

longitude-value

latitude

longitude

Latitude and longitude values must be entered in the following format:

<angle><hemisphere>

where <angle> is:

d.f      Degrees and fractions of degrees
d:m.f    Degrees, minutes and fractions of minutes
d:m:s.f  Degrees, minutes, seconds and fractions of seconds

The fractional component (.f) of <angle> is optional.

<hemisphere> is case-sensitive and must be ‘n’ or ‘s’ for a latitude value and ‘e’ or ‘w’ for a longitude value. There can be no space between <angle> and <hemisphere>.

For example, all of the following represent the approximately the same position:

position 38.747775n    90.36w
position 38:44.866n    90:21.6w
position 38:44:51.99n  90:21:36w

MGRS-value

The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) is a grid-based coordinate system that is useful for determining the relative locations of entities within a theater of operations. It is the primary geo-coordinate standard of the U.S. Army.

An example of an MGRS coordinate (grid reference) for a location near St. Louis MO is:

15SYC1111122222

This coordinate consists of the following subcomponents:

• 15: The 6 degree wide longitude band measured east from the international date line.

• S: The 8 degree wide latitude band. Letters C-X (except I and O) are used to designate these bands measured northward from the -80 degrees. Band ‘X’ is 12 degrees high providing coverage from -80 degrees to +84 degrees with 20 total bands. A useful rule is that band ‘N’ (for “North”) is the first band north of the equator.

• Y: The 100,000 meter “major easting” offset east of the start of the longitude band. Letters A-Z (except I and O) are used for the major easting and the start letter of these zones alternate depending on the longitude band (UTM zone).

• C: The 100,000 meter “major northing” offset north of the start of the latitude band. Letters A-V (except I and O) are used for the major northing.

• 11111: The easting within the Square Identification.

• 22222: The northing within the Square Identification.

Notes

• The latitude and longitude bands together (15S) constitute a 6x8 degree MGRS Grid Zone.

• The major easting and northing offsets together (YC) constitute a 100 square kilometer MGRS Square Identification within the Grid Zone.

• The easting and northing offsets together constitute the MGRS Numerical Location within the Square Identification.

In summary:

   15S           YC         11111 22222
    |            |               |
 Grid Zone    Square Id    Numerical Location
(6x8 degree  (within Grid  (within Square Id)
 location)    Zone)

One final point is that the Numerical Location can be specified with 0-5 decimals to specify various levels of precision. For example:

• 15SYC1111122222 (1 meter precision)

• 15SYC11112222 (10 meter precision)

• 15SYC111222 (100 meter precision)

• 15SYC1122 (1 km precision)

• 15SYC12 (10 km precision)

• 15SYC (100 km precision)

epoch-value

Epoch values are used to specify the reference time for which a two-line-element (TLE) is valid, and it can also be used to specify a simulation start time. Epoch values are specified in either of two formats:

<YYYYDDD.fractional-day>
<YYDDD.fractional-day>

where:

YYYY           is the four-digit year or
YY             is a two-digit year.
DDD            is a three-digit day of the year (001 - 366).
fractional-day is an eight digit fractional day referenced to UT midnight.

For two digit years it is understood that years less than 57 occur in the 21st century and those greater than or equal to 57 occur in the 20th century. For example the default epoch for simulation start time noon UT June 1, 2003 is:

2003152.5 (four digit format)
03152.5 (two digit format)

color

color-value

Colors may be specified in the following formats:

Color Specification	Format	Allowable Values
Floating point RGBA	float <real> <real> <real> <real>	[0, 1]
Floating point RGB	float <real> <real> <real>	[0, 1]
Integral RGBA	<integer> <integer> <integer> <integer>	[0, 255]
Integral RGB	<integer> <integer> <integer>	[0, 255]
Hexadecimal RGBA	<RRGGBBAA>	[00, FF]
Hexadecimal RGB	<RRGGBB>	[00, FF]
Named color	<string>	See table below

The following are valid named colors with their corresponding [0, 255] RGB values, many of which are taken from MIL-STD-2525D - TABLE XV.

Color Name	RGB
black	(0, 0, 0)
blue	(0, 168, 220)
brown	(61, 33, 255)
dark_blue	(0, 107, 140)
dark_green	(0, 160, 0)
dark_purple	(80, 0, 80)
dark_red	(200, 0, 0)
dark_yellow	(225, 220, 0)
gray	(102, 102, 102)
grey	(102, 102, 102)
green	(0, 226, 0)
indigo	(74, 0, 159)
light_blue	(128, 224, 255)
light_green	(170, 255, 170)
light_purple	(255, 161, 255)
light_red	(255, 128, 128)
light_yellow	(255, 255, 128)
magenta	(255, 0, 255)
orange	(255, 170, 0)
pink	(255, 0, 192)
purple	(128, 0, 128)
red	(255, 48, 49)
tan	(182, 133, 56)
violet	(192, 128, 255)
white	(255, 255, 255)
yellow	(255, 255, 0)

Reference Values

Note

The WSF Pre-Processor (introduced in AFSIM 1.9.0) provide a better and more general way to accomplish what is provided by this capability. Please consider using it if possible.

This section describes the accepted syntax for reference values. See the article Reference Values for a more detailed description on how they are used. As an example, prior to the implementation of reference values, the update_interval command contained in processor was defined as follows:

update_interval <time-value>

With the implementation of reference values, the documentation now reads:

update_interval <time-reference>

Commands that accept reference values will use the ‘<X-reference>’ syntax in their description. Commands that do not accept a reference value will use the ‘<X-value>’ syntax.

For each of the items that have units, Script Units indicates the units that MUST be used when assigning a value to the referenced script variable.

real-reference

Explicit

<real-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <real-value> ]

integer-reference

Explicit

<integer-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <integer-value> ]

boolean-reference

Explicit

<boolean-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <boolean-value> ]

string-reference

Explicit

<string-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <string-value> ]

mass-reference

Explicit

<mass-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <mass-value> ]

Script Units

kilograms

length-reference

Explicit

<length-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <length-value> ]

Script Units

meters

time-reference

Explicit

<time-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <time-value> ]

Script Units

seconds

For example:

update_interval 2 secs
update_interval /variable UPDATE_INTERVAL /default 2 secs

speed-reference

Explicit

<speed-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <speed-value> ]

Script Units

meters/second

acceleration-reference

Explicit

<acceleration-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <acceleration-value> ]

Script Units

meters/second^2

force-reference

Explicit

<force-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <force-value> ]

Script Units

Newtons

angle-reference

Explicit

<angle-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <angle-value> ]

Script Units

radians

angle-rate-reference

Explicit

<angular-speed-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <angular-speed-value> ]

Script Units

radians/second

angle-acceleration-reference

Explicit

<angular-acceleration-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <angular-acceleration-value> ]

Script Units

radians/second^2

data-rate-reference

Explicit

<data-rate-value>

Reference

/variable <variable-name> [ /default <data-rate-value> ]

Script Units

bits/second

Random Values

random-time-reference

Some commands accept a special syntax that allows specification of a constant value or a statistical distribution from which a random value is drawn. The following statistical distributions are provided:

• uniform with a user-specified minimum and maximum.

• normal with a user-specified mean and standard deviation.

• log_normal, with a user-specified mean and standard deviation.

• exponential, with an optional user-specified lambda, defaulting to 1.0.

Note that the constant value and the parameters for the statistical distribution are specified in Reference Values.

A time value that allows a time to be drawn from a user specified statistical distribution. ‘random-time-value’ can have any of the following formats

<time-reference>
constant <time-reference>
uniform minimum <time-reference> maximum <time-reference>
normal mean <time-reference> sigma <time-reference>
log_normal mean <time-reference> sigma <time-reference>
exponential [lambda <real-value>]

For example valid examples for creation_time in platform would be:

creation_time 10 min
creation_time constant 10 min
creation_time uniform minimum 5 min maximum 15 min
creation_time normal mean 10 min sigma 5 min
creation_time log_normal mean 10 min sigma 5 min
creation_time exponential
creation_time exponential lambda 1.0

The values within a <random-time-reference> may also be reference values. So for creation_time one could also have:

creation_time /variable TRUCK_CREATION_TIME /default 10.0 sec
creation_time uniform minimum /variable TRUCK_CREATION_TIME_MIN /default 5 min
                      maximum /variable TRUCK_CREATION_TIME_MAX /default 10 min

random-speed-reference

Identical to <random-time-reference>, except using <speed-reference> instead of <time-reference> for constant or statistical distributions regarding speed.

random-data-rate-reference

Identical to <random-time-reference>, except using <data-rate-reference> instead of <time-reference> for constant or statistical distributions regarding data rates.