A NEW APPROACH TO E-3 (AWACS) SENSOR DATA FUSION USING MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

THIS RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT THE EVALUATION OF A PROMISING PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY, MORPHOLOGICAL FILTERING, TO THE SENSOR DATA FUSION PROBLEM. THE E-3, AWACS FUSION PROBLEM, IS A DIFFICULT ONE BECAUSE OF THE PROJECTED LARGE NUMBER OF DYNAMIC AIRCRAFT TARGETS (UP TO 4000) AND LARGE NUMER OF SENSORS (UP TO 10) BEING CONSIDERED AS SOURCES TO BE FUSED. FAST MOVING AND MANEUVERING TARGETS OBSERVED BY DIFFERENT SENSORS AT DIFFERENT (NOT SYNCHRONIZED) TIMES CAN LEAD TO PROBLEMS WITH CONFUSTED AND MIS-IDENTIFIED TRACKS, PARTICULARLY IN REGIONS WHERE TARGETS ARE LOCALLY DENSE. THIS PROPOSED TECHNIQUE OF MORPHOLOGICAL FILTERING, COMBINED WITH A PARTICULAR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OFFERS THE PROMISE OF IMPROVED FUSED TRACK QUALITY WHILE BEING CAPABLE OF IMPLEMENTATION IN PRACTICAL HARDWARE FOR REAL TIME OPERATION ON THE E-3 AIRCRAFT. THIS PHASE I PROPOSAL OFFERS A FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION OF THE SUBJECT APPROACH.