High Speed Target Acquisition and Tracking System

This SBIR addresses the need to provide a two-man portable sensor suitable for the detection, acquisition and 3-D tracking of a variety of munitions at short to intermediate stand-off ranges of several kilometers. While some radar systems have the ability to track multiple fast moving targets, they do not have the resolution to provide information on individual closely-spaced multiple targets. Conventional, large-aperture optical instruments on the other hand, can provide good angular resolution but have trouble providing 3-D tracking of multiple targets and are not capable of operating at very high slew rates. This SBIR addresses developing a prototype of a single stand-alone optical sensor that can provide detection, acquisition and accurate 3-D tracking data on multiple targets and the associated ability to rapidly project launch and impact point locations for potential timely countermeasures. Trex has extensive experience with the design of such systems. The Phase 1 effort will focus on a performance scaling analysis of our generic small-aperture systems to project performance/ scaling for detection, 2D and 3D tracking of multiple representative targets. The analysis will provide performance tradeoffs within a parameter space which encompasses target ranges, instrument fields-of-regard and effective time-lines for target detection and tracking in scenarios of interest to the Government. The analysis will provide a quantitative basis for selecting a configuration and projecting the performance of a two-man portable prototype to be developed in a phase 2 effort. The compact two-man-portable instrument will also be designed to be compatible with ground mobile and littoral platforms.