Fusion of Imaging and Non-imaging Data for Surveillance Aircraft

This paper describes a phased incremental integration approach for application of image analysis and data fusion technologies to provide automated intelligent target tracking and identification for Airborne Surveillance on board an Aurora Maritime Patrol Aircraft. The sensor suite of the Aurora consists of a radar, an Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system, an Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system, a Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar (SSAR), a Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) sensor and a Link-11 tactical datalink system. Lockheed Martin Canada (LMCan) is developing a testbed, which will be used to analyze and evaluate approaches for combining the data provided by the existing sensors, which were initially not designed to feed a fusion system. Three concurrent research proof-of-concept activities provide techniques, algorithms and methodology into three sequential phases of integration of this testbed. These activities are: (a) analysis of the fusion architecture (track/contact/hybrid) most appropriate for the type of data available, (b) extraction and fusion of simple features from the imaging data into the fusion system performing automatic target identification, and (c) development of a unique software architecture which will permit integration and independent evolution, enhancement and optimization of various decision aid capabilities, such as Multi-Sensor Data Fusion (MSDF), Situation and Threat Assessment (STA) and Resource Management (RM).