DUAL MODE PERCEPTION SYSTEM for SITUATIONAL AWARENESS and CONTACT DETECTION for UNMANNED SURFACE VEHICLES

The US Navy requires deployment of a 360 degree field-of-view system for unmanned surface vehicles (USV) that provides situational awareness under unfavorable operating conditions. Proposed herein is a Dual Mode Perception System (DMPS) that: (1) Is compliant with Navigation Rule 5, (2) Provides situational awareness to an operator at a remote location and to an on-board automated command and control system, (3) Provides high resolution three dimensional object detection in the water surface, utilizing a dual mode sensor, thus ensuring excellent range resolution and cross range resolution, (4) Provides 360 degree coverage in horizontal plane and approximately 22.5 degrees coverage in the elevation plane, (5) Detects objects such as buoys, vessels, navigation markers and debris in the water. (6) Covers nine meters to two nautical miles, (7) Detects navigation lights, colors, and shapes on other vessels, and (8) Operates under all weather and environmental conditions including ability to tolerate motion under sea state 3 conditions, sea spray, direct sunlight and green water impacts. The Epsilon Lambda Electronics DMPS for USV situational awareness will consist of unique, all weather, dual mode sensor hardware, plus imaging and tracking and homing software algorithms to provide input to the USV navigation control system.