INFRARED CLOUD/SEA MODELING AND UNDERLYING FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

THE NAVY IS CURRENTLY DEVELOPING A PASSIVE INFRARED SYSTEM FOR FLEET DEFENSE TO DETECT AIRBORNE TARGETS AGAINST A CLUTTER BACKGROUND. THE BACKGROUND MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM (BMAP) IS SUPPORTING THIS EFFORT IN THE ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS OF ARCHIVAL QUALITY IMAGERY DATA OF CLOUD AND SEA CLUTTER BACKGROUNDS. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL PROVIDE BMAP WITH THE OVERALL ARCHITECTURE AND MODULES FOR A MULTIFUNCTIONAL, USER-INTERACTIVE CODE TO MODEL BACKGROUNDS, AND EVALUATE SIGNAL PROCESSING CLUTTER SUPPRESSION TECHNIQUES. THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL PART OF THE CODE WILL INCORPORATE SIMPLE CLOUD AND SEA RADIANCE MODELS THAT ARE BASED ON THE UNDERLYING PHYSICS AND CELLULAR AUTOMATA WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP A SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CLUTTER MODEL BASED ON THE FLUID DYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF CLOUDS. THE BMAP INFRARED SYSTEMS CODE (BISC) WILL SUPPORT MEASUREMENT PLANNING, DATA VAKUDATION, CLUTTER CHARACTERIZATION AND PROVIDE THE FRAMEWORK TO EVALUATE CANDIDATE IRST CONCEPTS.