Early BMD Fusion of Radar and IR Data from Mobile Platforms (BMDO/00-003B, E, and G)

"The object of this proposed three-phase SBIR project is to develop the capability to track and discriminate the objects proliferated by ballistic missile launches. This surveillance system will be mobile and deployed early relative to the more extensivemissile defense system being developed by MDA. Being mobile also permits location of the sensor platforms (ships and aircraft) so that each missile threat can be tracked early in its trajectory to facilitate shoot-look-shoot. The system uses existingsensors whose data complement each other and thus enhance tracking and discrimination performance. It will undergo field-tests starting September 2004 and be deployed soon thereafter.A major challenge is development and integration of processing methods to fuse data from distributed, disparate sensors. Current sensor data fusion processing methods are inadequate to handle phenomena that distributed sensors exhibit, such as, sensorregistration biases, resolution differences, and different detection characteristics. Adequate fusion processing that combines data for each target from well located and well chosen multiple sensors can greatly improve tracking and discriminationperformance. We have identified the most critical shortcomings of current fusion processing methods. Then proprietary and potentially patentable methods were devised that are designed to overcome those shortcomings. Provide field-tested algorithms and processing meth