Digital Engineering – Perception System for Situational Awareness and Contact Detection for Unmanned Underwater Vessels

Highly-contested environments present complex adversary Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) networks that target blue surface combatants and main bases in three ways: supporting long-range precision missile attacks, cueing bomber aircraft to attack with cruise and anti-ship missiles at medium ranges, and cueing Surface Action Groups (SAGs) across wide areas of the Pacific. Successful distributed operations require persistent low-cost sensing platforms that can tactically maneuver to provide optimal electronic surveillance (ES) at critical straits, contested island approaches, and in forward sensing areas where SAGs patrol. Over the Horizon Targeting (OTH-T) relies on a variety of long range sensors which are challenged in such a broad theater. Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) passive sensor employment will provide commanders with persistent sensing providing critical ISR needed for maritime tracking and identification, enhancing sea control and long-range strike. Metron proposes to demonstrate this passive ES capability on the Chesapeake Bay. First by building a single Blacktip USV equipped with an advanced ES sensor, partnered with a second sensor hosted at a Navy Research Lab site on the west shore. These sensors will detect surface emitters of interest and report their parameters to Metron EW track processing and fusion software that will provide an enhanced maritime picture. Metron delivers autonomous UUVs and USVs with industry-leading range, tactical employment, and dynamic payload management utilizing in situ adaptive autonomy. Since its original development over a decade ago, Metron’s Autonomy Navigation Command and Control (ANCC) suite has become the “autonomy of choice” being utilized in the most advanced UUV programs at DARPA, ONR, and PEO USC. ANCC’s proven capabilities consistently deliver real-time, mission planning and pruning without human-in-the-loop—unique to defense and commercial markets, it is deployed on 9 different UUVs. Under an ongoing DARPA project, Metron is providing tracking and fusion processing for an advanced ES sensor reporting a rapid stream of emitter reports. The details of the larger program objectives are classified. However, in April of 2022 over a 1-week period, the prototype ES system was demonstrated in a real-world maritime environment, conducting real-time signal detection, processing, and tracking of multiple bands of maritime radars onboard commercial vessels. The achieved goal was to demonstrate fusion of several bands of track emitters on the same platform for deriving platform-level ID.