Enhanced Eye-safe Multimodal Lidar/Active SWIR Imaging System

Advance warning of chemical and biological (CB) threats is of critical importance to our warfighters and continues to be a major challenge for the CB Defense Science and Technology (S&T) community. Recent research and development in the CBD S&T community has emphasized Integrated Early Warning (IEW) architectures that rely upon a layered sensing strategy that includes CBD-specific sensors such as lidar, but also incorporates a Force Protection (FP) sensing layer that provides complementary Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data that can be fused with the CBD data. Elastic backscatter lidar has proven to be a powerful tool for IEW by enabling high-sensitivity long-range detection, tracking and characterization of airborne aerosol plumes and CB aerosol agent release events. The Real-time Eyesafe Visualization, Evaluation and Analysis Lidar Next Generation (REVEALng) technology, developed by Spectral Sensor Solutions (S3), has demonstrated this capability in over ten major field experiments over the past 5 years. S3 has extended the REVEAL capability and developed a multimodal CBD/FP sensor by adding a Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) camera to the system to create an Active SWIR Imaging (ASI) mode. This multimodal system continues to provide the ability to detect/map/track aerosol plumes but includes the capability to switch into active imaging mode to provide 3D images of a region of interest. These 3D images can be combined with the plume measurements to provide an improved picture of the threat environment for decisions regarding force protections and maneuverability of our forces. Additionally, these 3D images can be used to provide ingress/egress route-mapping and obstacle avoidance for UAS-mounted point sensing missions. A significant advantage of the ASI mode compared to visible and standard infrared imaging for ISR is that ASI can image through obscurants and provide images in the presence of background clutter. This multimodal REVEAL-ASI system has been fully integrated, tested and documented as part of an initial Phase II SBIR project. We propose to further enhance this new system capability by focusing on optimization, automation and data integration within existing sensor networks. We also propose to assess the capability of an ASI depolarization measurement to disambiguate UASs from birds. If feasible, this would fill an existing capability gap for all Counter-UAS systems. While this innovative technique has shown promise at ultraviolet wavelengths, we propose to investigate the feasibility in the near infrared. Ultimately, we intend to take part in an integrated system demonstration at a suitable government venue to assess the performance of the enhanced system and validate the utility of the new data products in a networked environment.