Passive Tracking of Thrusting Targets from a Single Platform

Multiple air/space-borne sensors can provide position and range information on boosting missiles enabling estimations of their trajectories and likely points of impact. The earlier a missile’s 3D state estimate can be constructed, the sooner the layered Missile Defense System can engage and defeat the target. Boosting and / or maneuvering missiles pose a serious challenge to constructing the 3D state vector. A major advantage can be realized if the information required to construct the 3D state can be acquired from a single passive platform, reducing the needed resources for surveillance and tracking. An imaging sensor can only provide the target position in the sensor’s 2D projected plane; however, also acquiring target range provides the additional necessary information to complete the 3D state. While active systems (radar or ladar) provide accurate ranging, they impose significant size, weight, power, and pointing requirements. The overall objective of this proposal is to build upon and combine past work at OKSI (passive ranging of boosting missiles) and at FI (tracking missiles) to develop the algorithms, sensors, and the computing environment needed to demonstrate not only monocular passive ranging, but also full tracking of boosting targets from an airborne platform (e.g., HALO initially and ABL eventually).