Instant k-Space Tomography for Spatial-Spectral Monitoring

The Army is frequently forced to operate in hostile climates. Heavy fog, rain, snow, and dust storms can inhibit the performance of tracking technologies such as mid-wave infrared cameras. In such conditions, Army early warning systems are blinded and put personnel and assets at risk. There is a specific need for a degraded visual environment (DVE) penetrative target tracking solution. Radio frequency (RF) sensors are favored for these applications as they can penetrate DVE with minimal attenuation. Unfortunately, these technologies have yet to mature into a low-cost, portable solution. Phase Sensitive Innovations (PSI) has a wealth of experience developing see-through, all weather, RF technologies. Focusing on the millimeter-wave spectrum, leveraging low cost automotive RADAR components, PSI has developed RF technologies capable of video-rate imaging through DVE. PSI will leverage this expertise to develop a low cost, portable, active mmW solution for target identification and tracking in DVE. The proposed receiver can be integrated on the side of a mobile platform utilizing the full width of the vehicle to enhance resolution. During Phase I, we will design, simulate, and optimize a frequency swept, distributed aperture, optically addressed RADAR transceiver. In the Phase II effort we will prototype and test the system.