Fused EO/IR detection & tracking of surface targets: Flight demonstrations

At Fusion 2007 we presented real-time methods for fused video imaging, detection and tracking of multiple ground targets, and showed results of tower-based ground tests. This paper summarizes the use of these methods in proof of concept flight tests, undertaken as a collaborative effort among several business units of BAE Systems North America. Utilizing a Sonoma commercial RGB/MWIR 4-band turret mounted on a King Air 90, we integrated our existing image co/geo-registration methods with the image fusion, target learning & detection, multi-target tracking, and sensor/turret resource management methods reported previously, implemented them on real-time commercial processors, and conducted two test flights over water and land. We illustrate results of these flight tests that demonstrate proof of concept capabilities, showing examples of air-to-surface detection and tracking of multiple vessels over an extended field of regard, ground vehicles (both stationary and moving), and multiple dismounts walking on a beach. The approach does not require stabilization of the background in order to detect moving targets because detection is all spectral-based. Targets can be detected as spectral anomalies with respect to an adaptive local background, and then learned on-the-fly as a target class. Alternatively, targets can be designated by an operator and learned in real-time. This approach applies to both day & night fused video imaging over land & water, and can be extended to include other imaging sensors such as SWIR & LWIR, and coupled with hyperspectral fingerprinting for feature-aided tracking.