DUAL BAND MULTI-SPECTRAL FUSION FOR AIR VEHICLE DETECTION

THE DETECTION OF AIR VEHICLES IS A CHALLENGING TECHNICAL PROBLEM. A LOW COST APPROACH USING PASSIVE SENSORS IN BOTH THE VISIBLE AND MID-RANGE INFRARED (MWIR) IS PROPOSED. THIS APPROACH EXPLOITS THE ADVANTAGES OF EACH SPECTRAL REGION. VISIBLE LIGHT PERFORMS WELL ONLY IN THE DAYTIME, ALTHOUGH CHEAP HIGH REOLUTION FOCAL PLANESARE POSSIBLE. MWIR CAN PERFORM IN THE DAY OR NIGHT BUT IS LIMITED GREATLY DURING THE DAY BY HIGH BACKGROUND CLUTTER. NEITHER SENSOR NEEDS ACTIVE COOLING. IN OUR APPROACH, SUB-BANDS WITHIN EACH SPECTRAL REGIME ARE PROCESSED USING A PRE-DETECTION FUSION TECHNIQUE TO REMOVE CLUTTER. THE SAME PROCESSING APPROACH CAN BE USED FOR DAYTIME SURVEILLANCEUSING THE VISIBLE LIGHT REGION AND NIGHT TIME SURVEILLANCE USING MWIR. A LOW COST PROTOTYPE AND A DEMONSTRATION ARE PROPOSED. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH OF DEVELOPMENT. THE ANTICIPATED BENEFITS ARE NEW APPROACHES TO PASSIVE SURVEILLANCE OF AIR VEHICLES. LOW COST SOLUTIONS ARE POSSIBLE FOR MILITARY SURVEILLANCE OF CONTRABAND AIR TRAFFIC (DRUG SMUGGLERS).