Adaptive Tasking of Radar and Optical Sensors

Today’s battlefield environment contains large number of sensors onboard multiple platforms. This set of sensors types includes SAR, EO/IR, GMTI, AMTI, HSI, MSI, and video and for each sensor type there may be multiple modalities. In an attempt to maximize sensor performance, today’s sensors employ either very simplistic tasking approaches or require an operator to manually change sensor tasking operations. As such, the sensors become less effective as the sensing environments deviates from the assumed conditions. During the Phase I effort we have demonstrated the ability to automatically task and schedule sensors using generic tasks using a genetic algorithm approach. This proof of concept work has shown an ability to schedule multiple sensors simultaneously. Our Phase II effort will continue to develop this approach for solving the adaptive sensor tasking problem. As part of our Phase II effort, we will continue to add realism to the problem by increasing the complexity of the problem scenarios and using more detailed sensor and environmental models. Additionally, we will continue to evolve the genetic algorithm approach to account for these sensor characteristics as well as to deal with additional sensor modalities and environmental factors.