CLOUD-FREE CONDITIONS SPECIFIED FROM SATELLITE

MANY DOD WEAPON AND RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS ARE SERIOUSLY IMPACTED BY CLOUDS. NEW SYSTEMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE CONSTRAINED BY CLOUD OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE LINE-OF-SIGHT BETWEEN THE SYSTEM PLATFORM AND THE TARGET. CLOUD-FREE LINE-OF-SIGHT (CFLOS) EVALUATIONS USING CONVENTIONALLY OBSERVED CLOUD COVER HAVE BEEN PERFORMED FOR MANY YEARS TO OPTIMIZE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE SYSTEMS. WITH DOD SYSTEMS REQUIRING WORLD-WIDE ASSESSMENTS OF CFLOS, TECHNOLOGY TO EFFECTIVELY UTILIZE SATELLITE CLOUD INFORMATION NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED TO PROVIDE SATELLITE CFLOS ASSESSMENTS. METSAT, INC. PROPOSES TO EVALUATE THE VARIOUS SATELLITE DATA AVAILABLE AND DEVELOP NEW, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS TO PROVIDE CFLOS ASSESSMENT BASED SOLELY ON SATELLITE DATA. THE PHASE E EFFORT WILL PROVIDE DETAILED QUANTITATIVE INTER-COMPARISONS OF SATELLITE ASSESSMENTS AND DIGITAL WHOLE-SKY CLOUD IMAGES. REFINEMENTS IN TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED IN PHASE I WILL BE PERFORMED LEADING TO DESIGN OF OPTIMAL NEW PRODUCTS FOR SPECIFYING CFLOS AND CLOUD-FREE PATHS-OF-TRAVEL UNDER VARIOUS CLOUD CONDITIONS USING SATELLITE DATA ONLY. THESE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WILL PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENTS TO THE MISSION EFFECTIVENESS OF DOD SYSTEMS WORLD-WIDE.