Dual Mode Infrared (IR)/Millimeter Wave (MMW) Measurement System

Recent advances in the development of low cost components for Infrared Detection and Millimeter Wave integrated circuits have created an opportunity to develop a low cost multi-domain sensor suite for integrated air-to-ground and air-to-air data collection. The Phase I study will examine the application of dual band (3-5 um and 8-12 um) IR detection from a single sensor device or single chip; such a chip is commercially available. Tradeoffs of performance, cost, technical risk and ease of integration with ATMS III will be performed for IR systems including the present Agema 782. The ability to maintain calibration in flight by periodic self calibration will assure precise radiometry and potential coordination with IR spectral data. Time registration for data fusion is a standard feature of our system designs. A parallel effor will examine the application of an existing 94 Ghz sensor and airborne data collection system (Joint Project Chicken Little follow on) integrated with a new 35 ghz front end. This study team has in-depth IR data collection experience and has just completed over 300 hours of MMW airborne data collection. A full data collection, reduction and target analysis system is available. Methods to develop fused algorithms on target sets will be examined.