Why is a Spatial Reference Model (SRM) Needed?
Traditionally the M&S community has not been consistent in the treatment of models of the earth and related coordinate systems.
Consistency is required for joint distributed simulation in order to:
- achieve a reasonably level playing field,
- to support meaningful VV&A.
A number of different earth reference models (ERMs) are currently employed and this affects:
- representation of the environment in simulations & authoritative data bases.
- dynamics formulations, both kinematics and kinetics (movement).
- acquisition modeling and processing (inter-visibility).
Approximations in coordinate transformation algorithms made to reduce processing time may introduce additional inconsistencies.
An SRM is needed to promote lossless and accurate transformations.
A nomenclature inconsistency evolves when there is no SRM
- For example, how do these variables relate?
Altitude, elevation, height, geodetic height, ellipsoidal height, orthometric height, height above sea level, height above mean sea level, terrain height, pressure altitude, temperature altitude, nap of the earth, ...