Design of a Modular, Multi-Sensor, Multi-Domain Advanced Autonomous Surveillance and Sensing Platform for Enhanced Situational Awareness and Security

This Phase I effort aims to develop a novel class of multi-sensor, multi-domain advanced surveillance and sensing platform performing sensor fusion over mesh networks based on 5G technologies to enhance the Navy’s situational awareness and security in the rapidly changing Arctic. Climate change has reduced the extent of year-round ice coverage, increasing access resulting in increased near-peer activity and investment in the region threating U.S. dominance. Existing equipment, based on assumptions of persistent ice coverage, now faces reduced effectiveness and increasing capability gaps. Further, recent events in Europe highlight the effectiveness of electronic warfare and low-cost, expendable technologies. The proposed sensor system is a peer-to-peer mesh networked, multi-role, compact, energy-efficient, modular, and low-cost, designed for autonomous operation in the Arctic and beyond. It will detect manned and unmanned platforms in diverse environments, including swamps, deserts, tundra, snow, ice, and sea, with minimal human intervention. Both air and man-deployable, this platform will provide situational awareness and navigation aid in communication-degraded and GPS-denied environments. Key to the design is the ability to use intrinsic sensor systems and available RF communication to provide a geo-location solution by leveraging research and development into distributed adaptive sensor models during this Phase I effort.