IMPACT OF SCENE SHADOWS ON TARGET ACQUISITION

ARMY TARGET ACQUISITION TACTICAL DECISION AIDS (TATDAS) FOR VISUAL AND NEAR-INFRARED (IR) SYSTEMS (WHICH INCLUDE DIRECT VIEW OPTICS (DVOS), IMAGE INTENSIFIERS (II), AND SILICON TELEVISION (SITV) DEVICES) HAVE NO PROVISIONS TO TREAT THE EFFECTS OF EITHER SOLAR OR LUNAR SHADOWS CAST BY TARGETS OR OTHER SCENE FEATURES. SHADOWS MAY WELL INCREASE ACQUISITION RANGE BY PROVIDING ADDITIONAL TARGET CUES, OR THEY MAY DECREASE RANGE BY MASKING THE TARGET OR INCREASING CLUTTER. THIS SBIR PROPOSAL EXAMINES SCENE SHADOW EFFECTS ON TARGET ACQUISITION RANGE PREDICTION. IT INCLUDES NOT ONLY SOLAR SHADOWS, BUT ALSO LUNAR SHADOWS BECAUSE OF THEIR EFFECTS ON NEAR-IR NIGHT VISION DEVICES. THE TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SBIR ARE TO DEVELOP A GEOMETRICAL SCENE SHADOW ALGORITHM FOR INCORPORATION IN THE VISUAL AND NEAR-IR PORTION OF ASL'S TATDA AND FOR LATER USE IN VISUALIZATION SCHEMES; DEFINE SHADOWING EFFECTS PRODUCED BY CLOUDS, LARGE-SCALE SCENE FEATURES, AND SMALL-SCALE (I.E., CLUTTER) SCENE FEATURES; DEFINE ANY MODIFICATIONS (E.G., SOLAR/LUNAR GEOMETRY, CONTRAST TRANSMISSION, SCENE GEOMETRY) REQUIRED TO EXISTING TATDA SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO ACCOUNT FOR SHADOWS; AND DEFINE VISUALIZATION MODEL REQUIREMENTS FOR SHADOW PARAMETERS.