A NOVEL PASSIVE SENSOR FOR APPLICATION TO LOW OBSERVABLE TARGETS

WE PROPOSE A UNIQUE METHOD TO DETECT BOTH CONVENTIONAL AND LOW-OBSERVABLE AIRCRAFT AND MISSILES. THE METHOD RELIES ON NONE OF THE TYPICALLY USED SIGNATURES (I.E., THERMAL, RADAR, ELECTRONIC, VISUAL, AUDIO, OR CONTRAIL) AND THUS WOULD BE IMMUNE TO ALL THE PRESENTLY EXISTING DECOYS AND COUNTERMEASURES. THE SENSOR SPECIFICALLY DETECTS AND MEASURES THE RELATIVE CONCENTRATION AND CHEMICAL SIGNATURE OF FUEL COMBUSTION PRODUCTS. SINCE ALL TARGETS WHICH RELY ON ENGINES FOR PROPULSION MUST COMBUST FUEL, THIS SENSOR CANNOT BE EASILY DECOYED AND WOULD BE VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST LOW-OBSERVABLE TARGETS. THE SENSOR IS PASSIVE AND THUS NOT ITSELF OBSERVABLE OR DIRECTLY JAMMABLE DURING ITS DETECTING/TARGETING OPERATION. IT COULD BE ADAPTED TO FUNCTION AS A SIMPLE TARGET GUIDANCE SENSOR, OR INCORPORATED INTO SCANNING SYSTEMS TO SUPPLEMENT ACTIVE RADAR FOR THE DETECTION OF LOW-OBSERVABLE TARGETS. THE SENSOR COULD BE USED IN AIRBORNE, GROUND AND SPACEBORNE APPLICATIONS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE SENSOR HAS TWO MAJOR ANTICIPATED BENEFITS. FIRST, IT CAN BE USED AS A PASSIVE DECOY-RESISTANT SENSOR FOR MISSILE GUIDANCE, REPLACING THE PRESENT COMMON HEAT-SEEKING TECHNOLOGY. SECONDLY, IF INCORPORATED INTO AN IMAGING SYSTEM, IT HAS POTENTIAL TO AUGMENT OTHER SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS, ENABLING THE DETECTION AND TRACKING OF LOW-OBSERVABLE AIRCRAFT AND MISSILES IN CLUTTERED ENVIRONMENTS. KEY WORDS - AIRCRAFT/MISSILE DETECTION, LOW-OBSERVABLE TARGET, DETECTION/COUNTERMEASURES.