Tracking Through Laser-Induced Clutter for Air to Ground Directed Energy Systems

"Dramatic improvements in laser power and beam control technology combined with agility and speed with which directed energy can be retargeted and delivered through the atmosphere to the target makes laser-based weapon highly desirable for several keymission tasks in tactical battlefield environments. Success of the air to ground directed energy systems depends on their ability to acquire and track stationary or slow-moving targets on the ground in changing scene environments under different weatherand smoke conditions, camouflage conditions, and in the presence of strong background reflection. To develop a new tracking capability, we propose to build and demonstrate a novel multi-spectral tracking system, which integrates polarization diverseadaptive multichannel radar (AMR) with an optical tracker. In addition, we propose to develop and test two novel tracking algorithms: a hybrid filter, which allows us to track multiple optical targets in clutter environment, and polarization space-timeadaptive processing technique, which uses space, time, and polarization diversity to enhance radar tracking performance. Phase I evaluates performance of active and passive optical trackers for various engagment scenarios and selects the best approach,develops and validates a hybrid tracking filter,develops polarization extension of space-time adaptive radar processing technique and evaluates its performance. It also evaluates the effects of ani