The Merge
Feasibility simulation for autonomous air combat
Windows
macOS
Linux
A desktop scenario simulation platform for evaluating event-driven actions and autonomous behaviors in air-to-air engagements. Radar, flight, and weapon dynamics produce realistic event sequences — detections, launches, intercepts, evasions — so behavior scripts can be designed, tested, and validated against plausible timelines and outcomes.
Why The Merge?
Behavior-Driven Simulation
The core purpose of the platform. A declarative trigger/action AI system with JavaScript extensibility lets you define autonomous behaviors — cranks, notches, intercepts, evasions — and test them against realistic engagement sequences.
Realistic Event Timing
Physics models are tuned so detection ranges, missile time-of-flight, and intercept geometry occur at realistic timescales. Behavior triggers fire at appropriate ranges, times, and geometry — not arbitrary thresholds.
External Integration
Stream simulation events via TCP, MQTT, or UDP to external autonomy pipelines. Run headless on a server with full REST API control. Connect your own decision-making systems to the simulation loop.
Features
Real-Time Engine
60Hz physics loop with variable speed from 0.1x to 10x for rapid scenario iteration. Deterministic timestep ensures reproducible behavior testing.
Radar Simulation
Physics-based radar model with SNR calculations, Swerling detection models, Extended Kalman Filter tracking, and Doppler notch filtering. Presets for APG-77, APG-68, N035-IRBIS, and APY-2.
Weapons Simulation
3-DOF missile physics with multi-stage propulsion, proportional navigation guidance, loft profiles, and proximity fuze intercept. Dynamic Launch Zone brackets for fire-control evaluation.
Multiplayer
WebSocket networking with fog-of-war visibility filtering. Clients see only what their sensors detect. Host gets a separate Truth View window showing all entities.
Real Terrain
Real elevation data with CONUS high-resolution and global coverage. Bilinear interpolation, EGM2008 geoid model, and AGL calculations for terrain-aware operations.
Event Broadcasting
Stream simulation events over TCP, MQTT, or UDP. Entity lifecycle, radar tracks, weapon phases, and custom behavior events — all available for external consumption.
Headless Mode
Run without GUI for server deployments. Full REST API on port 8080 for external control. All broadcast transports active for integration with autonomy pipelines.
Behavior System
Declarative triggers (proximity, altitude, fuel, area, time, compound, custom JS) paired with actions (heading, speed, altitude, evade, fire weapon, custom JS). Built-in CAP patterns and BVR tactics.
Extensible
Add custom radar presets, weapon configurations, entity templates, and behavior scripts. JSON/YAML configuration with full TypeScript type definitions.
Technology
Built with Tauri v2 — Rust backend with a Vue 3 frontend. The Rust side handles the REST API (Axum), WebSocket multiplayer (tokio-tungstenite), MQTT broadcasting (rumqttc), and terrain elevation queries (rusqlite). The frontend uses MapLibre GL for mapping, Pinia for state management, and Monaco Editor for behavior scripting.
The simulation engine runs in TypeScript at 60Hz with physics models for radar detection chains, missile flight envelopes, and aircraft maneuvering — all tuned for realistic event timing rather than aerodynamic precision.
System Requirements
Desktop
- Windows 10+, macOS 10.14+, or Linux
- 8 GB RAM recommended
- GPU recommended for map rendering
- Network connection for multiplayer (optional)