SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Aircraft Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) is a method for assessing the threatfulness of aircraft within a dense surveillance space at long range. The fusion of measurements from multiple radar modes facilitates the determination of a comprehensive set of target characteristics such that a more informed assessment of a target’s threat level can be made. The inclusion of surveillance mode track information provides target speed and altitude, High Range Resolution (HRR) provides gross physical features, and analysis of polarimetric ISAR/SAR data provides information regarding locations of larger physical features, micro-Doppler signatures from rotating features on helicopters, propeller aircraft and jets (micro-Doppler/JEM), and smaller structural details isolated by scattering variations (polarization). This information can be combined to assess the threat level of aircraft in the field. The accumulation of information from multiple radar modes must be balanced with resource utilization and probability of intercept. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to assess the value of each additional radar mode to the fielded NCTR system. RDRTec proposes to expand on the modular building blocks within our Challenging target Airborne Detection & Discrimination (CADD) mode development testbed to create a suite of tools for the development and evaluation of radar modes suitable for aircraft NCTR. CADD has been developed across a series of SBIR topics including: N141-067, N151-105, N152-083, N192-059, and N192-089. The testbed includes a MATLAB suite of tools plus open architecture real-time C++ code designed to provide a means of developing, testing, and fielding advanced radar modes suitable for challenging target detection and discrimination. CADD creates a bridge to transition for this innovative aircraft NCTR radar system. The modular nature of CADD enables us to quantify the effectiveness of including each set of measurements (RCS, length, track data, polarization features, ISAR features, and micro-Doppler/JEM features) to screen out uninteresting targets and discriminate targets of interest for aircraft NCTR. RDRTec will partner with HyPerComp to simulate radar signatures of aircraft targets of interest, which will then be ingested into the CADD testbed for NCTR system development and testing. Their simulations include 6 DOF models, high order EM solvers, data visualization tools, and RF data generation at a variety of viewing angles, radar frequencies, and polarizations. HyPerComp’s efforts in large-scale RF data generation (HDphysics-RF) for DoD’s various warfighter requirements is supported by several SBIR and non-SBIR contracts funded by a series of SBIR/RIF Army contracts W31P4Q-20-C-0025, W31P4Q-16-C-0045, W31P4Q-16-C-0080, W58RGZ-22-C-0037, W51701-22-C-0029, and many ongoing efforts with the Air Force, Navy, and DARPA. RDRTec has a long history of working with HyPerComp and ingesting their RF simulations into the CADD testbed.
