Combined RF/IR Data Correlation

Aegis BMD 5.0 CU will expand and update the Baseline 9 MRBM and IRBM threat set, while Aegis BMD 5.1 will have capabilities against more sophisticated short to intermediate range ballistic missiles. An ability to discriminate this wider set of increasingly sophisticated threats is essential. Technology Service Corporation (TSC) and the Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) propose to identify features that can be correlated and fused between RF and EO/IR sensors to enhance the discrimination function of Aegis BMD against sophisticated decoys, and in the presence of debris. TSC and MTRI will conduct feature selection trade studies, and a novel scheme that adaptively selects feature vectors, while simultaneously correlating and discriminating objects, will be developed. The techniques will be analyzed against notional threats of interest that are representative of Aegis BMD 5.0 CU threats.