Customer
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) operates a gun firing range at Otterburn in the north of
England. The Range lies in a National Park area and the environmental impact of noise pollution is a key concern to the MOD, as well as inhabitants and visitors to the area.
Business Issues
The MOD is required to monitor and report upon gun noise levels at the range to ensure that noise
levels are within set acceptable guidelines. As they were planning to introduce new guns to the firing
range they needed the ability to predict noise levels in a variety of terrains and under various
meteorological conditions. The results of such noise modelling would support the case for the
approval of such guns to be used at the Otterburn Range and also allow for control of gun noise.
CAS solution
CAS designed a software model which uses the prevailing weather conditions and digital terrain
data along with measured noise spectra of guns and shells, to plot noise level contours and calculate noise levels for key areas of inhabitation. This model takes into account many complex factors including wind,
temperature, ground and air attenuation, relative humidity etc. Calculated noise levels are displayed
as data over a contour map or in a tabular form.
Benefits
The system provides the MOD at Otterburn with the ability to record noise levels, a fundamental
requirement to ensure that levels comply with environmental legislation. In addition, the ability to
predict noise levels in many complex weather and combat situations provides management at the Range with the opportunity to control firing to ensure that noise guidelines are adhered to. Without such predictive software, the MOD would have been unable to prove during the public enquiry that noise pollution from the new guns would not be a problem to residents and visitors to the National Park area.