Classification Enhanced Target Tracking

Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is notoriously difficult in shallow water due to the prevalence of false alarms. Even with the aid of a sophisticated tracker/classifier such as the ETC, false alarms remain a problem in many operationally interesting areas. Experience from the radar world suggests that the single most important discriminant between target and clutter is resolution. However, this approach has not been possible for active sonars because the current receiver arrays are not large enough to provide sufficient resolution for effective discrimination. This situation is changing now based on advancements in the synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), which achieves high azimuthal resolution without physically extending the receiver array. The image azimuthal resolution is range and wavelength-independent if the full integration aperture can be achieved. Even if the full aperture cannot be realized due to tactical constraints, summing several pings may still offer significant detection and classification performance gains. We propose a Phase II program to develop this advanced target classification capability for the MFTA. If successful, the low and zero-doppler targets may no longer pose a problem if their detailed features can be recognized in an image. This would represent a much-needed transformational advancement in ASW technologies.