NEW CONCEPTS FOR DETECTING CLASSIFYING OR LOCATING MOBILE OBJECTS USING LOW COST ACOUSTIC SENSORS

OUR PROPOSAL EFFORT DEFINES AN APPROACH TO DEVELOPING A FAMILY OF LOW-COST EXPENDABLE ATMOSPHERIC ACOUSTIC SENSORS. DURING PHASE I WE PROPOSE TO IDENTIFY THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS AND ON-BOARD PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS FOR AN ADVANCED ACOUSTIC SENSOR PACKAGE. OUR GOAL IS TO DEFINE A PACKAGE THAT MAY BE READILY DEPLOYED TO A REMOTE SITE, EITHER BY AIRBORNE MEANS OR BY A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL TRAVELLING ON FOOT. THE SENSOR PACKAGE SHOULD BE SELF-POWERED WITH SUFFICIENT BATTERY RESERVE TO SUPPORT OPERATION FOR PERIOD SPANNING AS MUCH AS SEVERAL WEEKS. THE SENSOR PACKAGE SHOULD ALSO BE SUFFICIENTLY RUGGED ALLOW DEPLOYMENT IN ALL TYPES OF TERRAIN AND SHOULD BE OPERABLE IN AN EXPOSED ENVIRONMENT POSSIBLY SUBJECT TO EXTREMES OF BOTH TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE. VARIOUS SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS WILL BE EXAMINED, INCLUDING SIGNAL SENSOR UNITS, DISTRIBUTED MULTISENSOR ARRAYS, AND VARIOUS HYBRID PACKAGES WHICH INCLUDE OTHER SENSOR TYPES (I.E., SEISMIC, MAGNETIC, PYROELECTRIC, AND OPTICAL). A PRELIMINARY DESIGN CONCEPT WILL BE DEVELOPED TO SERVE AS THE BASIS OF PHASE II EFFORTS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS EFFORT WILL BENEFIT THE FEDERAL GOVT. BY PROVIDING THE MILITARY AND OTHER GOVT. AGENCIES WITH AN EFFECTIVE INTELLIGENCE GATHERING AND UNIT SECURITY CAPABILITY. THIS CAPABILITY WILL BE OF USE TO BOTH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND CIVILIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATIONS. THIS EFFORT WILL ALSO PROVIDE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS IN THE AREA OF PERIMETER AND FACILITES SECURITY OF COMMERCIAL INSTALLATIONS. KEY WORDS - ACOUSTIC SENSORS, TARGET DETECTION, TARGET LOCATION, TARGET CLASSIFICATION, LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT, SPECIAL OPERATIONS