Foveated ACquisition, Tracking, and Object Recognition (FACTOR)

Recently-developed foveating optical sensors like the VASI camera offer new opportunities to significantly increase the effectiveness of automated munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles, and missile defense systems. Foveating sensors reduce the bandwidth and computation required to perform image processing. Without appropriate image processing algorithms, however, these cameras cannot be effectively used. Robust algorithms for solving these problems do not yet exist. This proposal describes the Foveated ACquisition, Tracking, and Object Recognition (FACTOR) effort, which will develop the algorithms needed to demonstrate the advantages of foveating sensors on the modern battlefield. FACTOR will leverage the new sensors by developing novel algorithms for camera foveation control, and by tailoring existing target acquisition, tracking, and recognition algorithms for use on foveated imagery. FACTOR will let the U.S. Air Force exploit its new sensors to simultaneously achieve wide fields of view, high spatial resolution on multiple targets of interest, and extremely high frame rates. The result will be more effective smart munitions, lower bandwidth requirements for video transmission off of UAVs, and new opportunities for tracking extremely fast targets like incoming ballistic missiles.