ADVANCED SIGNAL PROCESSING METHODS FOR SMART MUNITIONS SEEKERS

THE U.S. ARMY, THROUGH THE ARMY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ENGINEERING CENTER (ARDEC), HAS A REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP WEAPONS SYSTEMS FOR THE DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF GROUND VEHICLE TARGETS IN A CLUTTER ENVIRONMENT. AUTONOMOUS HOMING MUNITIONS (AHM) USING INFRARED, VISIBLE, MILLIMETER WAVE AND OTHER SENSOR SYSTEMS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED FOR THIS APPLICATION. ADVANCED SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES USING PATTERN RECOGNITION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES COMBINED WITH MULTISENSOR TECHNOLOGY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO MEET THE ARMY'S REQUIREMENTS FOR NEXT GENERATION AHM. THE ONTAR CORPORATION HAS DEVELOPED AND IMPLEMENTED A RIGOROUS ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY AND WORKSTATION SOFTWARE PACKAGE TO CHARACTERIZE GROUND/AIR TARGETS AND BACKGROUND CLUTTER FOR AUTOMATIC TARGET QUEING AND RECOGNITION (ATC & ATR) APPLICATIONS. STATISTICAL PATTERN RECOGNITION TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN USED TO ANALYZE SEVERAL SCENES DATABASES, AND DERIVE A SET OF DISCRIMINATION ALGORITHMS FOR TARGET DETECTION, CLASSIFICATION, AND IDENTIFICATION.