Integrated topside design

Integrated topside designis adesignapproach used bymilitaryship and ship equipment designers to overcome the challenges of effectively operating shipboardantennasystems and equipment susceptible toelectromagnetic fieldsin the high electromagnetic environment of a warship's topside. The approach primarily uses the well-understood physics ofelectromagnetismto simulate the topside environment before the equipment is tested for real.

Advances in ship design to accommodate ever more high power antenna systems, numbers of parasiticre-radiatingmetallic structures (such as cranes and masts) and a requirement to have more sensitivesensorsforlittoraloperations has led to a need for greater consideration of the operation of equipment prior to ship build or prior to equipment deployment. Whilst this can be done post-deployment using measurement teams, using a modelling andsimulationapproach early in the ship design is more cost-effective than making corrections after the ship is built, and so is the preferred option for several of the world's advancednavies.

References

• Lubben, J, "MilCis Integrated Top Side Design".October 2007
• Stanley, J, "Warship Electromagnetic Modelling".June 2010