Automating Unmanned and Manned Sensor Performance in Demanding Tactical Environments

Per the topic description, naval airborne sensor systems are utilizing or are planning to utilize varying degrees of automation in the prosecution of their missions as part of future naval capabilities. The automation must handle very dense maritime surface picture conditions that can exceed 1,000+ surface contacts that quickly become overwhelming for operators to adjudicate. A promising strategy to adjudicate the surface contact picture automatically is to optimally allocate the resources of airborne sensor suites that are typically deployed on manned and unmanned airborne platforms conducting ship self-defense and maritime surveillance operations. Early detection and classification of potential threats is possible using high range resolution and tracking radar. Additional classification is possible by combining EO/IR interrogation, and association with stored data and available off-board information. It is envisioned that a sensor suite resource manager (RM) would be employed to automatically construct the surface picture with the use of classification aids that leverage the merging of information from organic and inorganic sources. It is also desirable that the RM is capable of dynamically tasking the platform via flight profile changes in response to the evolving surface picture, taking into account mission profiles, OPSITs/TACSITs, platform kinematic capabilities, airspace restrictions, and threat profiles. In addition, the RM must have situational awareness of the local airspace traffic in order to conduct the mission effectively and maximize on-station time.