초록

A method comprises the steps of receiving information concerning the operation of surveillance assets, and using the information in a Monte Carlo simulation to produce an estimate of total surveillance time. An apparatus that is used to perform the method is also provided.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method comprising the steps of: receiving information concerning the operation of surveillance assets; and using the information in a Monte Carlo simulation to produce an estimate of total surveillance time. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information concerning th

What is claimed is: 1. A method comprising the steps of: receiving information concerning the operation of surveillance assets; and using the information in a Monte Carlo simulation to produce an estimate of total surveillance time. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information concerning the operation of surveillance assets comprises: reliability information; and maintainability information. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reliability information includes one or more of: mean time between failures; failure distributions; redundancies; and acceptable performance level. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the maintainability information includes one or more of: maintenance concept; mean time to repair estimates; and repair distributions. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using the information in a Monte Carlo simulation to produce an estimate of total surveillance time comprises the steps of: producing a family of system level Monte Carlo simulations, each including specific component level reliability, maintainability and support system parameters; and running the system level Monte Carlo simulations to develop a database of random events. 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of: constructing a mission timeline based on user-supplied mission profiles containing Taxi, Ingress, Coverage, Egress, and Repair/Turnaround times; constructing an overlay of post-processed missions to span a period of interest; and calculating total coverage achieved over the period of interest. 7. An apparatus for providing an indication of the utility of an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system, the apparatus comprising: a computer programmed to process information about the operation of assets in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system to produce an indication of a total surveillance time for various operating scenarios of the assets; and a user interface operatively coupled to the computer system for inputting data into the computer system and for receiving the indication of a total surveillance time. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer uses a Monte Carlo simulation to produce the indication of a total surveillance time. 9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the information concerning the operation of surveillance assets comprises: reliability information; and maintainability information. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the reliability information includes one or more of: mean time between failures; failure distributions; redundancies; and acceptable performance level. 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the maintainability information includes one or more of: maintenance concept; mean time to repair estimates; and repair distributions. 12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer is further programmed to: produce a family of system level Monte Carlo simulations, each including specific component level reliability, maintainability and support system parameters; and run the system level Monte Carlo simulations to develop a database of random events. 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the computer is further programmed to: construct a mission timeline based on user-supplied mission profiles containing Taxi, Ingress, Coverage, Egress, and Repair/Turnaround times; construct an overlay of post-processed missions to span a period of interest; and calculate total coverage achieved over the period of interest.