Portable Missile Miss-Distance Identification System (PMMDIS)

A Portable Missile Miss-Distance Identification System (PMMDIS) is needed to efficiently and precisely quantify the miss-distance of Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) missiles fired at fixed targets. Current techniques for determining missile miss-distances such as radar-based systems are only accurate to within several feet, at best, and they are also expensive and time-consuming to setup.  The proposed PMMDIS consists of a series of low cost cameras with synchronized frame capture and real-time image processing software in order to collect data.  A Test Site Server and Workstation will facilitate calibration, data collection, and calculation of miss-distance.  The PMMDIS can be monitored and controlled by a Remote Workstation that is offsite.  Further, the PMMDIS will be operational for daytime and nighttime tests through all kinds of extreme environmental conditions and will be robust enough to provide at least 15-days of continuous unattended operation and data archival.  The system will be easy and quick to setup requiring that no external measurements be made of the locations of the sensors prior to testing. Phase I will culminate in a practical design proposal of a PMMDIS for implementation in Phase II. BENEFIT: The Portable Missile Miss-Distance Identification System (PMMDIS) developed in Phase I and II will have adaptation potential to a number of other military and commercial uses.  The system can be adapted to measure missile orientation out of the tube and when the rocket motor ignites.  The same system could be used for air-to-ground missile launches in lethality evaluations.  It could also be used to assess missile accuracy for launches at target drones. An adaptation of PMMDIS could be used in updating current missile warning systems on aircraft.  The system could have non-military applications in measuring trajectories of objects in sporting events.)