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STK 9 At A Glance

Better Usability | Access More Data | Enhanced Functionality | Development Tools

Welcome to the community of STK 9 users! When embarking on this development effort, our goal was simple: help users get their job done. Thanks to your feedback, STK helps new users deliver expert results and expert users produce answers faster and easier.

Through usability enhancements, access to more standard data sources, new functionality, and the expansion of development tools, all summarized below, STK 9 marks our most aggressive release to date.

Also, check out these online video clips to see these improvements in action!

Better Usability

Workflow
  • User interactivity with 2D and 3D windows - Through enhanced user interaction in the visualization windows, such as right-click context menus for all entities, users can access the inputs and data they need without having to leave the visualization display.


  • Pin-able windows that maximize screen real-estate - Users can tailor the GUI layout by hiding, docking or tabbing different panels like the Object Browser. This flexibility gives users ample room for the visualization display, while at the same time providing immediate access to other necessary tools.


  • API for customizing the user interface - Using his own software development environment (SDE) a user can create custom workflows for the STK workspace via User Interface (UI) Plugins. The interface allows users to design toolbars, GUI panels and context menu options that integrate 3rd-party or in-house capabilities right inside of STK.
Input
  • One interface to define all objects in a scenario - Users now have a centralized interface to populate scenarios with any and all STK objects. Customize this interface to map to the popular entities and insertion methods most commonly used.
Output
  • One interface for all reports and graphs - Manage all data outputs for any and all entities and calculations from the centralized Report & Graph Manager. With this consolidation, users can get to their results more easily and have greater flexibility in pulling data, running comparative analysis, and more.


  • Interactive reports to examine results - STK 9 helps users assess results more efficiently by providing right-click interaction with data in the report. Jump to key sections of data, sync the visualization to the time of an anomaly or point of interest, etc. to get the most out of the data.

Access More Data

Satellite State Data
  • Use online services to automatically pick the right satellite state data - To ensure the most accurate results, STK can use web services to apply all the appropriate two-line element (TLE) data sets for satellites of interest in the scenario. This linkage applies for historic, current and future analyses.


  • Native support for GPS almanac data - To better support users performing navigation analysis, STK can natively ingest GPS almanac data and apply settings such as outage times to the GPS constellation to generate more accurate results.
Geospatial Data
  • Higher-resolution terrain (90 meters global, 30 meters US) - While STK continues to native support industry-standard terrain formats (e.g. DEM, ESRI ADF, DTED, etc.), users of STK/Terrain, Imagery, and Maps also have access to new 90-meter resolution global terrain and 30-meter data for the United States. This data is formatted for optimized performance and rendering in STK.


  • Gigs of freely distributable terrain and imagery available via download - The STK/TIM data sets as well as other free terrain and imagery tiles and 3D models are available for download through the new AGI Download Utility (available for download from the web). This utility can be run from any computer independent of STK, providing users who work in closed environments an opportunity to also access this data.


  • Support for ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3 SP1 - For users and creators of ESRI ArcGIS data, STK 9 now supports ArcGIS Runtime version 9.3 SP1, allowing them to take advantage of the greater online data interoperability and other enhancements to the ArcGIS Suite.
Microsoft Bing Maps® imagery
  • Streaming high-resolution imagery onto 3D globe - Through AGI's partnership with Microsoft, STK/TIM users can stream global high-resolution Microsoft Bing Maps® raster imagery onto their STK, AGI Viewer, and STK Engine 3D globes. Select from different data sets (e.g. aerial imagery, roads, etc.) to provide enhanced situational awareness.

Enhanced Functionality

Satellite Mission Design
  • Optimization of mission segments to minimize fuel and maximize satellite lifetime - Using the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) methodology to minimize or maximize objectives while meeting specified equality and inequality constraints, STK/Astrogator optimizes a trajectory subject to user-specified upper and lower bounds, weighting factors, and goals of the optimization process.


  • Convenient in-process interface to add logical operations to STK/Astrogator segments via scripting - The Scripting Tool allows the addition of complex in-process automation and logic control to an STK/Astrogator mission control sequence. Using any STK attribute or calculation, custom scripts can be written to quickly implement initial guess utilities, unique mission requirements, and even time-saving shortcuts.
Aircraft Mission Modeling
  • Route aircraft in formation or relative to other vehicles - Through enhancements to STK/Aircraft Mission Modeler, users can define aircraft routes that depend on other scenario entities. Aircraft can fly in formation, fly over a moving ground target, etc. to better simulate realistic mission behavior.


  • Model airframe loading, propulsive and aerodynamic characteristics - By modeling the aerodynamic and propulsive properties directly in STK/Aircraft Mission Modeler planners can simulate more realistic attitude behavior in their flight paths. Similarly, users can perform aircraft sizing analysis or compare the performance of different airframes for a given mission.
Communications
  • Customizable database of payloads and environmental models - Users can define, customize, and store different payload specifications, RF propagation and environmental models affecting communications links. By accessing these custom models from a database available from any scenario, users can preserve the integrity of the different models applied across their scenarios.


  • Enhanced workflows through redesigned UI and new "antenna" object - Navigate through the different input parameters via a new, streamlined user interface.
Real-Time Tracking
  • Performance to manage and visualize tens of thousands of simultaneous tracks - AGI's Real-Time Tracking Technology (RT3) has an improved architecture to manage and display high volumes of live or simulated data from any number of sources. RT3 offers users access to an expanded set of filter queries and events to improve the real-time situational awareness and decision support.
Distributed Simulation
  • Expanded support for any HLA Federate Object Model (FOM) including RPR, MATREX, or other custom FOMs - AGI's Distributed Simulation (DSim) Extension extends its support for DIS and HLA data. The software natively supports both RPR and MATREX Federate Object Models (FOM) while also providing an interface to link to other custom FOMs.

Development Tools

STK Engine development
  • Start building custom applications with any STK edition - For any STK edition, including the free STK Basic Edition, users can begin developing custom STK Engine applications. See STK Engine for more information.
Object Model API
  • Expanded Object Model API - STK and STK Engine automation APIs continue to expand users' abilities to integrate AGI software into their solutions. Along with new automation events and libraries, STK 9 also introduced many coarse-grained convenience functions for rapid development.
AGI Developer Network
  • Free online service for software developers and integrators - The AGI Developer Network (ADN) provides documentation libraries, blogs, software downloads, and more. Check out the ADN for example UI Plugins, HTML automation scripts, and other resources to extend STK.