SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Detection, classification/recognition, and tracking surface vessels on water is very challenging for many reasons. Haze, marine layer, and/or other particulates can attenuate signal and create path background radiance, all of which reduce the contrast of the target against the background. The intensity and spatial frequencies of the background often mimic the surface vessel making acquisition and tracking of the target difficult. As stated in the solicitation, water wakes from fast moving boats such as the Fast Attack Craft (FAC) can produce wakes that have similar signatures or partially obscure the target. Polaris Sensor Technology proposes to develop in Phase II, a Visible/NIR, SWIR, MWIR, LWIR imager with polarization sensing capability in the Visible/NIR and SWIR wavebands. Polarization was demonstrated in Phase I to show a performance enhancement in terms of contrast and background rejection, especially in the visible and SWIR wavebands. Polaris will combine multi-spectral sensing, polarimetry that can be used along with advanced image processing algorithms to develop robust acquisition, tracking, and classification capability in a single sensor.
