Real-time Ocean Surface Ortho-mosaic Mapping

To address the Navy real-time ocean surface mapping need, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new autonomous Real-time Ocean Surface Ortho-mosaic Mapping (ROSOM) software, providing precise, geo-referenced, “satellite-like” maps of water surface from electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) imagery captured from small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs). ROSOM provides the capability to continually build and update a map as sensors provide new data and can be utilized in GPS-denied environments. The software is based on a precise and completely autonomous calculation of each captured image geo-reference (i.e., its position and orientation relative to a geodesic frame) using continuous optical flow computation from enhanced EO/IR image sequences (or video imaging with 1–30 Hz) of underlying water surface during the day/night and under any weather conditions for low-altitude (10 – 2,000 m) UAS flights. ROSOM directly addresses the U.S. Navy and their PMA263 Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Air Systems acquisition program requirements. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of ROSOM at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-4. In Phase II, POC will implement a fully functional ROSOM software prototype and test it in a representative flight environment over water with varying sea and atmospheric conditions, according to Navy requirements.