False Alarm Rejection (FAR) Techniques for Missile Warning Systems (MWSs)

A major challenge in developing a MWS is maintaining a high probability of detection in high clutter environments with a minimum number of false alarms. Three main methods used to detect missiles are spectral filtering, spatial processing, and temporal discrimination. Each of these methods helps with missile declaration and false alarm reduction, but further false alarm rejection is needed. The spectral and spatial characteristics of the MWS are established by the sensor; so the most viable area for system improvement is the use of advanced tracking and declaration algorithms. DRA proposes to use innovative missile and background comparison techniques to help eliminate false alarms. During Phase I and related MWS programs, DRA defined tracker performance metrics, improved missile and background motion comparison techniques, and added missile and background detection feature comparison techniques into the declaration logic. During Phase II, DRA will refine the list of performance metrics to include system performance metrics, optimize the algorithms previously implemented, develop and implement additional algorithms specific to the detection algorithms of the Correlated Dual Waveband sensor, and demonstrate the improved false alarm rejection with the upgraded MWS software.