Multisensor Perception and Situational Awareness (MPSA) System

Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are anticipated to be vital components of the US Navy’s fleet in the coming decade, taking over responsibilities from conventional manned vessels for many missions. Successful deployment of USVs is a key to maintaining maritime superiority, and a fundamental requirement for deployment is an automated perception and situational awareness system which provides an uninterrupted 360-degree understanding of the vessel’s surroundings, enabling safe guidance and navigation. The Multisensor Perception and Situational Awareness (MPSA) system provides tracking data for surface objects with unprecedented accuracy by employing a novel suite of sensors including: multiple radars, a spinning 360-degree IR sensor, and a pan-tilt-zoom EO sensor. A Correlator module intelligently fuses the sensor data, while a Classifier module provides object classifications. Together, these capabilities provide the USV operator with the most comprehensive situational awareness picture available. The MPSA system will also fuse AIS and DNC data and will be capable of integrating new sensors in a plug-and-play fashion.