Award

In the GMD battlespace, it"s critical to rapidly ascertain specific identifying characteristics of a track so follow-on sensors can match the same track. Currently, sensors communicate track data with differing biases and uncertainties with little data-rich content and attempts to utilize track measurement information and target identification have not provided clear improvements; too little information is made available to few sensors. Addressing this challenge, 21st Century Systems, Inc. (21CSi) and the University of Oklahoma will be investigating a concept, dubbed Sensor Handoff via Advanced REasoning (SHARE) Under Uncertainty, which utilizes nested fusion loops that account for the feature data, applying uncertainty bounds to compare against previous information. SHARE Under Uncertainty, in essence, will play"20 questions"to ascertain how each new piece of data fits with the previous information to further reinforce or discount a track, allowing other possible tracks to be considered. Through examining the sensor characteristics and systematically addressing the uncertainties and biases, our research may be able to uncover common features usable to track targets as they cross sensor modalities. This handing over back and forth capability would allow a network of sensors each with unique characteristics to maintain the surveillance and greatly improve missile defense.