The conceptual and preliminary design of the Dynamic Link Tool (DLTool) System are presented. The DLTool System performs moderate fidelity, satellite radio frequency (RF) interference and communications analysis. The primary customer of the DLTool System is Program 607 of Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The system will dramatically improve the existing satellite RF interference analysis capabilities of Program 607, which are currently inadequate. Most-importantly, the DLTool System will reduce the required analysis time for satellite RF interference problems from approximately 6 hours to 1 hour.

The DLTool System is intended to provide the capability to quickly predict or anticipate potential periods of RF interference. The design of the DLTool System includes an analysis of the needs of the customer, a feasibility study, the definition and allocation of operational and maintenance requirements, and the functional analysis of the system. The system is designed for a workstation-based local area network with simultaneous users, and includes a graphical user interface for input and output. The core component of the DLTool System is customized c++ code that performs the computational analysis of user defined satellite-ground station scenarios. The primary users of the system are communication engineers who will use the DLTool System to study RF interference issues for their customer.