PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF MAP DATA

FORWARD LOOKING INFRARED (FLIR) SYSTEMS INTEGRATED WITH OTHER SENSOR INPUTS CAN EXPAND FLIR MISSION EFFECTIVENESS SIGNIFICANTLY. DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY (DMA) MAP DATA OFFERS AN ADDITIONAL PASSIVE INPUT TO ENHANCE FLIR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE. INCORPORATION OF DIGITAL TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA (DTED) MAY AUGMENT FLIR IMAGERY BY PROVIDING RIDGE LINES, TERRAIN CONTOURS, AND LINE OF HORIZON. TERRAIN PROFILES MAY ALSO PRESENT AN ADDITIONAL AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION (ATR) DECISION CRITERION TO IMPROVE SYSTEM ACCURACY BY REDUCING FALSE ALARMS. DIGITAL FEATURE ANALYSIS DATA (DFAD) COULD IMPROVE FLIR SYSTEM CAPABILITIES BY PROVIDING CULTURAL FEATURE LOCATION AND IDENTIFICATION. IN ORDER TO ASSESS THE UTILITY OF DMA MAP INTEGRATION INTO FLIR SYSTEMS FOR THESE FUNCTIONS THE DEGRESS OF CORRELATION ACHIEVABLE BETWEEN MAP DATA AND SENSED IMAGE MUST BE DETERMINED. DCS PROPOSES TO PERFORM AN ASSESSMENT OF AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION INSTRUMENTS, SENSOR PLATFORM ANGLES/RATES, SENSOR RESOLUTION, AND MAP DATA BASE PARAMETERS AS THEY APPLY TO REAL-TIME MAP DATA ENHANCEMENT OF FLIR SYSTEM DISPLAYS. OTHER ISSUES SUCH AS MASS DATA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL, THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGE SOFTWARE CONTROL, AND VIDEO DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY WILL BE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE THE CORRELATION ACHIEVABLE BETWEEN THE MAP DATA AND THE SENSED IMAGE TO PREDICT THE SUCCESS OF THIS APPROACH.