Advanced Air Target Track Fusion Processing of Data from Multiple Distributed Sensors

A key element in the mission of the United States Armed forces is the ability to identify and track multiple objects of concern and to then coordinate forces to take appropriate action. To this end, the use of multiple sensors on multiple platforms greatly enhances this tracking and identification capability. Thus, the overall goal of this program is to develop a network-centric class of multiple frame data association methods (MFA/MHT) that achieves the quality and performance of a centralized MFA/MHT tracker, that achieves a Single Integrated Air Picture (SIAP) across a network of platforms, and that manages communication loading, even in challenging and anomalous conditions. The success of this program depends on solving a host of technical problems associated with network tracking. Numerica proposes the adaptation of its Network MFA tracker to the IAMD benchmark and the use of the IAMD benchmark metrics to demonstrate its performance in challenging conditions such as communication delays and biases. Simulation studies will be performed to identify issues associated with the degradation in performance as communication delays and biases vary. Solutions to these and other issues will be proposed.