OPIR Performance Enhancements with Non-traditional Sensors (OPENS)

Decisive Analytics Corporation (DAC), in partnership with G&D O’Connell, LLC, proposes to mature a prototype algorithm, demonstrated under the preceding Phase I SBIR, that estimates key tactical parameters during high-speed maneuvering weapon (HSMW) engagements. Our approach integrates sensor signature models for OPIR and radar within a common mathematical framework that performs tracking and discrimination jointly, as new data are observed sequentially. This approach thus permits each of these functions to inform the other, resulting in improved performance over sensor data fusion architectures in which tracking and discrimination are performed separately. The algorithm uses this capability to fuse data from multiple current and planned overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensors – as well as from radar sensors, when available. In turn, the algorithm can predict maneuvers of HSMW threats, and their direction, sooner than they would be recognized by current state-of-the-art tracking systems. Developing the ability to perform this function in real-time, as we propose to do in this Phase II effort, could provide crucial support to fire control radars or other future countermeasure systems.