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What's new in STK 11.7

AGI is always developing and adding more to its toolbox. This fall, we are happy to announce the latest improvements to Systems Tool Kit (STK), AGI’s physics-based mission modeling tool, including:

  • Enhanced multifunction radar capabilities
  • Up-to-date atmospheric models for STK Communications & STK Radar
  • Many advances in STK Astrogator
  • Faster, large-scale studies with STK Analyzer
  • STK access to 3D Tilesets hosted on the Cesium ion platform

Find out more below.

Radar

STK Radar provides a quick setup and thorough radar system analysis. The Multifunction Radar model now supports dynamic waveform switching for each of the active beams in the multifunction radar system. Each beam will select and use an appropriate waveform based on a target's range from the radar system. Default waveforms for short, medium, and long range tracking tasks based on a ground radar type reside in the STK Component browser. You can use these default waveforms as a base to duplicate, edit, and create new waveforms.

Learn more in this Radar blog post.

Communications

STK Communications enables you to build and analyze communications systems. Our recent updates to the tool expand the catalog of rain models, atmospheric losses, and antenna models.

  • Use the most current ITU-R S.580 antenna gain pattern (v6), the ITU-R F.1245 antenna gain pattern (v3), and the ITU-R S.465 antenna mode (v6)
  • Improve communications and radar link analysis with the latest ITU-R P.840 cloud and fog propagation loss model
  • STK Communications has always been able to load external antenna files, it now also supports the .uan complex data format.

Astrogator

STK Astrogator supports advanced satellite maneuver planning. In STK 11.7, you have a broad list of new capabilities that you can use as you design your missions.

  • New Astrogator capabilities in the Component Browser. Create a new Propagator Function to model the mathematical formulation of the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP). Create a custom central body to use in the new CR3BP Propagator Function.
  • New calculation object. You can generate data on the “Number of Revolutions" from the Time Calculation Objects library.
  • Additional flexibility in designing satellite propagation. You can immediately stop propagation for previously surpassed epoch stopping conditions
  • Customize and utilize a Throttle Table Engine model

Read more in this Astrogator what's new blog post or this post on Astrogator support for CR3BP.

Watch the following two videos to learn about the new features in Astrogator!

 

STK Analyzer Parallelization

STK Analyzer enables you to run complex trade study analysis using the core STK physics engine. With Scalability Extension, you can increase your analysis and utilize parallelization and multiple cores, or run on a cluster. Studies that may have taken hours to run will be completed in minutes. Improvements include:

  • Use of STK’s Extremum data in Analyzer gives it an even higher fidelity than it had before. Using the extremum data (min, max, avg) enables Analyzer to match the high physics analysis of STK.
  • Expanded capabilities of the Analyzer Walker analysis.
  • Expanded capabilities and finer Time analysis for 11.7.

Read more in this Analyzer blog or watch this Analyzer video.

Visualization updates

STK can connect you to more massive 3D datasets for your globe:

  • Streaming terrain hosted by AGI’s on-premises product, Geospatial Content Server
  • Streaming 3D tilesets hosted on the public Cesium ion

Read more in this visualization blog post or watch this video on the new visualization updates.

Additional resources

You can review our full list of new?features or corrected issues for this release. Feel free to try out this release by either downloading or running our hosted version (zero installation and no licensing) from your browser.

Related Product Brochures:

Related Product Blogs:

Systems Tool Kit (STK)

Modeling and simulation software for digital mission engineering and systems analysis.

Geospatial Content Server (GCS)

Host, process, and serve terrain, imagery, and other heterogeneous 3D data.

Astrogator

Design high-fidelity spacecraft trajectories for mission planning and operations.