ACES Display - Warlock

The Air Combat Engagement Summary (ACES) Display is intended to provide an integrated display that provides several sets of air combat data for a platform that contains a WSF_SA_PROCESSOR in a single, reconfigurable display.

Note

For all available data to be shown, a platform with a Situation Awareness Processor is necessary.

Note

The ACES Display plugin is a prototype capability and is not complete. As a result of this, it is disabled by default and must be enabled through the Plugin Manager.

To open a display, open the context menu for a platform (right click) in the map display or the platform browser and select ‘ACES View’.

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Display Sync

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The Tactical Situation Display (TSD) and the Situation Awareness Displays (SAD) zoom and centering can be synchronized by clicking the ‘Display Sync’ button in the center. When enabled, the left regions zoom and centering will be used as the reference for syncing the displays.


Display Swapping

The four circle display regions may be swapped by clicking on the left or right side of either the top or bottom display:

../../_images/aces_displayswap.png

Setting a Center Point

A center point may be set to allow the user to zoom and get more information about a particular region on either the TSD or SAD display. This option is available in the context menu (right clicking). Resetting the center point will return the ownship to the center. Below is an example of setting a new center point:

../../_images/aces_setcenterpoint.png

A new center has now been set:

../../_images/aces_newcenter.png

Settings

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The Tactical Situation Display (TSD), Situation Awareness Display (SAD), and Engagement regions of the ACES Display have settings tabs that can be opened to toggle various settings. Explanations of settings are given in the description of each display region below.


Display Regions

The ACES Display has various regions with particular types of data. These are detailed below.

Platform Data

../../_images/aces_headerdata.png

At the top left of the display, general platform data is shown. From left to right:

Data

Description

Engine Thrust and Throttle

Shows normalized thrust and throttle settings, including the use of afterburner.

Weight/Mass

Shows gross weight, total fuel weight, internal fuel weight, and external fuel weight (all in thousands of lbs).

Weapons

Shows quantity and type of weapons, with the selected weapon shown in white.

Fuel

Shows current fuel flow (lbs/hr), joker/bingo fuel states (lbs), and G-load.

Altitude and Speed

Shows altitude (ft), calibrated airspeed (kts), true airspeed (kts), and Mach.


Situation Awareness Display

../../_images/aces_sad.png

The Situation Awareness Display(SAD) provides the user with a graphical summary of the tactical perceptions using WSF_SA_PROCESSOR data from the platform.

Perceptions

Perceived entities are drawn using their perceived identification. Entities may also include additional information, such as altitude (thousands of feet) to the right of the entity icon, as well as priority threat number (at the upper left of the icon) and priority target number (at the lower left of the icon). Entities are oriented to their heading. Entities that are marked as important by the SAP are shown with a white outline. Coasting entities are shown as transparent, and thus appear dimmer. If eyes_track_processor is set, then an eye-shaped icon will appear to the left of the entity’s icon.

Symbol

Identification

Description

bogie

Bogie/Unknown

Yellow square

neutral

Neutral

White square

bandit

Bandit/Threat

Red triangle

friendly

Friendly

Green circle w/ optional id

flight

Flight

Blue circle w/ flight id

missile

Missile

Arrow with circle/square/triangle

As an example, the perception shown below is a threat traveling at a relative bearing of 0 degrees at an altitude of 35,000 feet. It has been assessed as the second highest priority threat and the highest priority target. It is marked as important, and is visible to the pilot.

../../_images/sad_perception.png

Groups

Groups are displayed using circles that are large enough to contain all members of the group. A minimum group radius may be specified in the WSF_SA_PROCESSOR. This is often useful to aid in visualization. Each group contains a unique id, which is displayed to the top-right of the group circle. Groups are drawn in red if all perceptions belonging to it are perceived as bandit/hostile – otherwise, the group will be yellow (bogie/unknown). If a group contains only coasting perceptions, it will coast – this is shown using a faded (ghost) color. If a group is set as “important”, then it will be surrounded by a white outline. If it is unfocused, then none of its entities will appear. Instead, it will have a transparent fill, with the number of entities written in the center.

All perceived entities are members of a group. However, unless “Show Perceptions” is turned off in the SAD settings, groups that contain only one entity are not shown.

../../_images/sad_groups.png

Truth

Truth data can be shown, which is often useful to compare with perceived data. Truth is drawn in magenta, since no other symbol uses that color – this makes truth icons easy to see. Truth entity icons are aligned with their current heading. A chevron shape is used for air domain icons (both aircraft and weapons) – all other domains use a square shape. This allows easy distinction between aircraft/weapons and other platform types.

../../_images/sad_truth.png

Situation Awareness Display Settings

The following settings may be set for the SAD:

Option

Description

Ownship Position

Sets the offset position of the ownship on the compass (Centered, Offset, Bottom)

Show Perception

Toggles visibility of Perception entities

Show Truth (Air)

Toggles visibility of Truth entities in the air domain

Show Truth (Other, Non-Air)

Toggles visibility of Truth entities in the non-air domain

Show Friendlies

Toggles visibility of Friendlies (non-flight)

Show Flight Members

Toggles visibility of Flight members

Show Priority Threats

Toggles visibility of Priority threat numbers (Top left of perception entity)

Show Priority Targets

Toggles visibility of Priority target numbers (Bottom left of perception entity)

Show Altitude

Toggles visibility of Altitude in thousands of feet (Middle right of perception entity)

Show Importance

Toggles visibility of Importance as a white outline around entities and groups marked as important

Show Visibility

Toggles visibility of Visual Tally Indicator (Middle left of perception entity)

Show ESM/RWR Tracks

Toggles visibility of ESM/RWR tracks (Large triangle on the inside edge of the compass)

Show Angle Only Tracks

Toggles visibility of angle only tracks (Small triangle on the outside edge of the compass)

Show Route

Toggles visibility of Route/Waypoints

Show FOV

Toggles visibility of FOV lines extending from the ownship

Show Groups

Toggles visibility of Group perceptions (circles)

Show Entity Select Mode

Sets whether entity info is shown on hover or click


Tactical Situation Display

../../_images/aces_tsd.png

The Tactical Situation Display(TSD) provides the user with a graphical summary of the current ‘Tactical Situation’ using track data.

Tracks

Track entities are drawn using their received identification.

Image

Identification

Symbol

tsd_bogie

Bogie/Unknown

Yellow square

tsd_neutral

Neutral

White square

tsd_bandit

Bandit/Threat

Red triangle

tsd_friendly

Friendly

Green circle

tsd_flight

Flight

Blue circle

tsd_missile

Missile

Arrow with circle/square/triangle

Tactical Situation Display Settings

The following settings may be set for the TSD:

Option

Description

Show Air

Toggles visibility of entities in the air domain

Show Ground

Toggles visibility of entities in the ground domain

Show Route

Toggles visibility of Route/Waypoints

Show FOV

Toggles visibility of FOV lines extending from the ownship

Show Entity Select Mode

Sets whether entity info is shown on hover or click


Threat Warning Display

../../_images/aces_twd.png

The Threat Warning Display(TWD) displays ESM/RWR tracks along with a possible identification id. To get data into this display, an esm_track_processor must be specified. Depending on the track identification, different symbolism and coloring will be drawn (see below).

Symbol

Identification

Shape

ID

twdnm

Default/Unknown

Square

‘U’

twdm

Missile

Diamond

‘M’


Primary Flight Display

../../_images/aces_pfd.png

The Primary Flight Display(PFD) provides HUD-type data. This includes Pitch, Roll, KCAS, Altitude, Angle of Attack, Vertical Speed, and G-Load. Regions for the data are shown in the table below:

Data

Region

KCAS

Top Left

Altitude (ft)

Top Right

Angle of Attack (deg)

Middle Left

Vertical Speed (ft/min)

Middle Right

G-Load

Bottom Center


Engagements

The Engagements region shows engagement data for target and threat platforms of the source platform.

../../_images/aces_engagementdata.png

Data is shown for the platform to the target and target to the platform, as follows:

Data

Description

Range

The range from the platform to the target in nm.

Aspect/AngleOff

The aspect and angle off from the platform to the target in degrees.

Det

The detection range from the platform to the target in nm.

Rmin/Rne/Rmax

The Rmin, Rne, and Rmax WEZ ranges from the platform to the target.

DETECTION bar

Shows a normalized view of the detection ranges for the platform and target, normalized to the higher detection range. Slant range may be shown here as a vertical yellow bar.

WEZ bar

Shows a normalized view of WEZ ranges for the platform and target, normalized to the higher Rmax. Slant range may be shown here as a vertical yellow bar.

Engagements Settings

The following settings may be set for the Engagements region:

Option

Description

Engagement Select Type

Sets how the engagement list is populated. This can be Manual, Threats, or Targets

Units

Sets whether units are displayed in nm or km

There are three ways targets are populated for the engagement region. By default the targeting method is set to manual:

Targeting method

Description

Manual

The engagement list is populated with platforms the user has selected in the Platform Browser.

Prioritized Threats

The engagement list is populated with the prioritized threats list provided by the platforms WSF_SA_PROCESSOR.

Prioritized Targets

The engagement list is populated with the prioritized targets list provided by the platforms WSF_SA_PROCESSOR.


Platform Selection (Non-Functional)

Note

This feature is currently non-functional and will be implemented in a future release.

../../_images/aces_platformselection.png

At the top left of the display a dropdown box is shown allowing for the selection of the current ownship. This may also be cycled through using the previous and next buttons.


Platform Comments

../../_images/aces_comment.png

At the bottom right of the display any comments made by the source platform (using WsfPlatform.Comment) will be displayed.


Behavior History

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At the bottom right of the display below Platform Comments the behavior history for the source platform is displayed. This will show up to the last 10 behaviors executed by the platforms Advanced Behavior Tree if available (newest behavior executed shown in white).


Countermeasures

../../_images/aces_countermeasures.png

At the bottom left of the display, countermeasures are shown. This includes quantity for chaff, flares, and decoys, as well as the current weapon selected.


TSD and SAD Common Features/Settings

Heading

../../_images/aces_heading.png

The heading of the ownship in degrees is shown at the top of both the TSD and SAD displays.

Route

../../_images/sad_route.png

The platform route is shown using light gray circles containing the number of each waypoint.

Ownship Position

There are three options that control the offset of the platform and compass within the displays. These include Center, Offset, and Bottom. By default, the Center display option is selected. This provides the most complete and unbiased perspective of the environment.

However, to provide increased resolution of the forward region, the Offset and Bottom options may be selected. These trade off space behind the ownship for greater space and detail ahead of the ownship platform.

../../_images/aces_ownship_position.png

Examples are shown below:

Offset

Bottom

offset

bottom

Range

The range(nm) for the both displays may be changed by scrolling the mouse wheel up and down in their region. The default range is 160 nm. Scrolling increases/decreases in increments of 5 nm.

Entity Select Mode

More information on an entity in either the TSD or SAD can be obtained by hovering or clicking on it (depending on the mode selected). This additional information will be shown in a window at the bottom, if available.

TSD

SAD

../../_images/aces_tsd_entity_info.png ../../_images/aces_sad_entity_info.png