Digital Simulation Techniques for Lunar Midcourse Guidance and Navigation Conputer Systems Research

A hardware oriented digital computer systems simulation is described and digital simulation techniques are reviewed as they have been applied to a lunar midcourse guidance and navigation computer systems research project. Digital simulation techniques are considered in terms of Fortran and symbolic programming, the role of the systems programming engineer, the use of actual equipment, hardware interfacing, the establishment of theoretical base lines, simulation repeatability, computational range and accuracy, operational flexibility and data reduction. Attention is given to the celestial scene simulation construction, calibration and system errors. Conclusions summarize advantages and disadvantages of digital simulation techniques.