SBIR-STTR Award

This project will provide a PDR-level design for an optical sensor system for the detection and location of the splashdown position of reentry vehicles at the Kwajalein Atoll with accuracies between one and five meters. The system will make use of visible waveband sensors at multiple sites for stereo viewing. Coincidence filtering and background subtraction will be used for target detection. In addition to system performance analysis and design, a development test unit will be constructed and used to support algorithm development and to verify sensor performance.

Keywords:
reentry vehicle scoring trajectory determination Kwajalein Missile Range visible sensor data fusion

Transferred from Army, this project aggressively addresses the development of the Impact Detection System (IDS) into an operation sensor system for use in metric scoring of targets at the High Speed Test Track at Holloman AFB. Based upon the results of phase I, prototype hardware and software are to be developed and used to study the sensor characteristics and finalize the system and detailed designs. The sensor approach is innovative and relatively low-cost. The Key elements use commercially available components and custom software to achieve subpixel resolution of the target's track.

Keywords:
Trajectory Determination Kinetic Kill Vehicle Scoring High Speed Test Track Visible Sensors