Acoustic and Electro-Optic Data Fusion

Historically acoustical sensors have performed the bulk of Mine Countermeasures for the Navy. Electro-Optic Identification (EOID) has recently proven itself as an important technology in the identification of mines. With the AN/AQS-20A adaptation programnow providing EOIDs to the fleet, the EOID sensor works simultaneously with four sonars (the EOID replaces the Volume Search Sonar for this configuration). To fully exploit the combined capabilities, sonar and EOID data need to be fused into a largerfeature description of the target.Arete will create simulated EO images that correspond to existing AQS20 sonar targets and provide a combined acoustical / EO feature set (expected to be greater that 41 raw features). From this set, an algorithm will be developed to describe the target.The existing acoustical CAD/CAC algorithm will be used to measure the added performance attributable to the fusion process. Phase I will quantify the benefit of the fusion process and pave the way for a Phase II. The following phase will analyze the simultaneous data to be acquired during CT / DTOT testing and the releasing of the algorithm for integration into the the AQS20system. It is fully intentioned that this work will result in a