Multifunction sensor for target recognition

The U.S. Army has a critical need for the capability provided by a multifunction sensor. This is (in effect) a smart sensor system that can adapt to environmental conditions and adjust its mode of operation to effectively counter any threat it meets. It will have an intelligent signal processor which has all of the system's sensor signals to choose from. The processor chooses the appropriate signal information to rapidly detect, acquire, track, and automatically identify all targets in the vicinity of the sensor under a wide variety of battlefield scenarios and environmental conditions. The multiphenomenology signal information provides the flexibility to overcome the adverse effects of clutter, countermeasures (both active and passive), illumination, obscurants, target orientation, and weather. It should be noted, however, that the types of sensory information required is dependent on the mission and the operating environment. For instance, a strategic defense sensor operating in space can use (and will need) different types of sensor data than the multifunction sensor employed on an attack helicopter. In fact, the sensor configuration on a helicopter operating in Saudi Arabia may be quite different from one that is deployed to Vietnam. For the purpose of this paper we generalize about the technologies desired for an adaptable, `smart' sensor system. We do not specify a particular mission nor define a specific threat. However, in any case, we can assume the need to fuse sensor signal information in an intelligent processor to provide robust performance in the battlefield environment. 12