Motion Energy Approach to Missile Launch Detection for Aircraft

During Phase I, Computational Sensors Corporation (CSC) will develop improved methods for missile launch detection (MLD) for aircraft. Recent attacks on aircraft, both commercial and military, have demonstrated the need for reliable systems for detecting missiles at launch and during approach. Achieving high probabilities of detection with low probabilities of false alarm is a challenge, especially for small, dim targets in a cluttered background. One discriminating feature of a missile is its relative motion compared to the background. In this project, CSC proposes the development of a MLD system that discriminates missiles from their background using the Adelson-Bergen motion energy model. In previous work, CSC has demonstrated the ability of this bio-mimetic algorithm for detecting small moving targets for interceptor guidance applications. CSC has developed a massively parallel video processing system capable of bulk spatio-temporal filtering. The enabling device uses analog silicon retinas in multi-chip architectures for complex, spatial-frequency filtering allowing the real-time implementation of a motion-energy system. In the proposed work, CSC will investigate and develop the algorithm modifications necessary to apply the motion energy approach to aircraft MLD. In Phase II, CSC will implement the most promising algorithms in hardware for hardware-in-the-loop testing.