Project 3 — B-21 IR/RCS Signature Trade Study#
Background#
Block 3 taught you to read and shape every band of an aircraft’s signature: the infrared spectrum and its seekers (L21–L24), radar cross-section as an aspect pattern (L25–L26), the materials and discipline that buy the last decibels (L27), and the fusion rule that ties them together (L28) — detection is a union, so you are found at the range of your loudest band, R_det = max_b R_b. This project turns that toolkit into an acquisition decision. Your group is the B-21 design cell: a fixed budget buys a package of signature-management investments — planform realignment, structural low-band treatment, radar-absorbing coatings, plume suppression, low-emissivity skin, DIRCM, emission discipline — and each cuts some bands and not others, at a cost in money and weight. Against a three-band threat — a VHF surveillance radar, an X-band fire-control radar, and an IR MANPADS — you must choose the package that minimizes the loudest-band detection range without exceeding the budget. The trap is that the loudest band, the low-frequency VHF radar, is the one that radar-absorbing material barely touches, so the obvious buy spends money and moves nothing. Finding the package that spends at the limiter, and knowing when the limiter jumps to another band, is the project.
Materials#
Project 3 handout (PDF) — the authoritative tasking, deliverables, and rubric
B21_SignaturePattern.csv — B-21 baseline VHF / X / IR signature vs aspect
SignatureMenu.csv — the seven signature-investment options
The MATLAB starter code/L29_Project3Starter.m is bundled in the course code download with both CSVs beside it — it scores the baseline and one example package against the three threats, so your group starts at the trade study, not the file I/O.
Explore the trade study#
Toggle investments on and off and watch the budget and the three threat ranges update; then rotate the aircraft to see which threat holds a track at each aspect. This is an explorer, not the deliverable — the PDF handout is the tasking.
Schedule#
L29 is a dedicated in-class work day — see L29 — Project 3 Work Day.
L30: slides (PDF) and code due before class; 10-minute presentation + 5 minutes Q&A, every member speaking — see L30 — Project 3 Presentations.