NEW FALSE ALARM REDUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED MISSILE WARNING SYSTEMS

The objective of this effort is to develop a low cost infrared countermeasures sytem to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder launched, infrared guided missiles. DRA proposes to harness leading edge technologies to detect, track and counter these lethal threats. The proposed concept incorporates low cost visual technologies for detection and tracking of missiles and a minin-gimbal technology for the pointing of low cost semiconductor lasers. Candidate sensor are evaluated for the ability to address this probelm. Critical sensor parameters to be considered include the detection range, backgrond clutter, detection envelope, processing time and detection reliability. Selected candidate sensors will be taken to the field for collection of raw signature and background data. The operational requirements will be exhaustively scrubbed though the iterative application of a structured dialog with the User community. A top level system design and a defining system specification for a low cost infrared countermeasures system are the two key products.