Browse Topic: Surveillance

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A Bio-Inspired Hybrid Mode for Enhancing Rotary MAV PerformanceF-0081-2025-01205/20/2025
Enhancing rotor efficiency has been a persistent challenge in the development of micro aerial vehicles (MAV) especially for surveillance and covert operations. This study introduces a new Hybrid Flapping Wing Rotor (Hybrid FWR) configuration inspired by insect's wing flapping mechanics to address the efficiency limitation of traditional rotor designs. Unlike traditional rotary systems that rely solely on rotational motion, the Hybrid FWR combines rotational and flapping motions to significantly enhance lift generation. A comprehensive mathematical model was developed to analyze and predict the optimal aerodynamic performance, demonstrating that the Hybrid FWR configuration achieves a substantial improvement, with a power efficiency increase of up to 2.148-fold compared to conventional micro rotorcraft. Experimental validation was conducted to confirm the theoretical predictions, identifying an optimal hybrid ratio of approximately 0.7, which effectively minimizes aerodynamic resistance during the upstroke phase while maximizing lift during the downstroke. This bio-inspired hybrid approach addresses critical limitations of existing MAV rotors, such as limited operational endurance and range. The findings of this research contribute significantly to the advancement of micro rotorcraft technology, presenting a promising direction for future MAV developments with enhanced flight performance and energy efficiency.
Huang, Xun, Lu, Linghai, Whidborne, James
GUIDANCE FOR DISTRIBUTED RADIO ARCHITECTURESARINC678 (Current)7/15/2021
The purpose of this document is to evaluate Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) Distributed Radio architectures and the feasibility of distributing the RF and systems processing sections to ensure the following: Reduce cost of equipment Reduce Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) Ease of aircraft integration Growth capability built into the design Maintain or improve system availability, reliability, and maintainability It provides a framework to determine whether it is feasible to develop ARINC Standards that support CNS distributed radio architectures.
Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee
Perseverance: Some Reflections on 55 Years of the Canadian Sea KingF-0076-2020-1626210/5/2020
On August 1, 1963, the first two Canadian Sea King helicopters arrived at their new home station, Shearwater, Nova Scotia and joined the Royal Canadian Navy. On Saturday, December 1, 2018, three Canadian Sea King helicopters, now part of the Royal Canadian Air Force, made their final flight over their home station at Patricia Bay, British Columbia. This paper outlines some of the highlights of the intervening 55 years with particular emphasis on procurement and fleet introduction, the helicopter's rapid change of roles from dedicated anti-submarine warfare helicopter to a general-purpose surveillance platform for the First Gulf War and finally, the truly amazing accomplishments of the Canadian Sea Kings in the year 2010. It is worth bearing in mind that although the personnel may have changed and the roles and equipment of the aircraft have been modified, the requirement to provide ‘Wings for the Fleet’ has remained constant over the years.
(Retd.), Colonel
Adding Context to Full-Motion Video for Improved Surveillance and Situational Awareness20AERP02_032/1/2020
Today's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms integrate state-of-the-art technologies and subsystems into airborne platforms intended to observe, detect, identify, and neutralize threats. Full motion video (FMV) sensors are essential assets and are routinely used on fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and manned and unmanned platforms to provide real-time situational awareness with minimal latency. Ultimately, FMV is invaluable for helping operators answer the what, where, when, and why of a scenario. These sensors, which are easy and relatively inexpensive to integrate and deploy, support mission-critical tasks such as target detection and analysis. This may include tracking and pattern recognition-for example, FMV is particularly well suited for long stand-off ranges such that a target is not aware that they are being observed.
Adding Context to Full-Motion Video for Improved Surveillance and Situational AwarenessTBMG-360552/1/2020
Today’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms integrate state-of-the-art technologies and subsystems into airborne platforms intended to observe, detect, identify, and neutralize threats. Full motion video (FMV) sensors are essential assets and are routinely used on fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and manned and unmanned platforms to provide real-time situational awareness with minimal latency.
Automatic Drone Detection SystemTBMG-360602/1/2020
Tektronix Beaverton, OR 1-800-833-9200
Defeating Commercial Drone Threats with Open-Source SDRTBMG-3535310/1/2019
It’s nearly impossible to look at technology news without seeing an article about drones. Whether detailing how Amazon wants to use drones to deliver packages or revealing amazing aerial video of drones following Olympic snow-boarders, commercial drones are ubiquitous. Drone emergence has benefited many applications including sports broadcasting and wildlife preservation wilderness surveys. Offering powerful, intelligent software, drones are becoming less expensive and easier to use, with substantial operating range.
EO/IR Maritime PayloadTBMG-3535210/1/2019
CONTROP Precision Technologies Ltd. Lanham, MD 571-331-0042
Autonomous Multi-Sensor Maritime Awareness SystemTBMG-3536410/1/2019
BIRD Aerosystems Herzliya, Israel
Spatiotemporal Imaging Exploiting Structured Sparsity19AERP09_079/1/2019
Overcoming the conventional limits of spatiotemporal imaging by applying compressed sensing and sparse representations to reduce the amount of data acquired while maintaining high image resolution. Air Force Research Laboratory, APO AP 96338-5002 Spatiotemporal imaging contains a large class of imaging problems, which involve collecting a sequence of data sets to resolve both the spatial and temporal (or spectral) distributions of some physics quantity. This capability is exploited in numerous different fields such as remote sensing, security surveillance systems, astronomical imaging, and biomedical imaging. One typical example is hyperspectral imaging, which is a powerful technology for remotely inferring the material properties of the objects in a scene of interest. Ultrasonic and thermal imaging are other important examples of spatiotemporal imaging where high spatial resolution is needed for urban planning, military planning, intelligence and disaster monitoring and evaluation. While spatiotemporal imaging has great potential, acquiring and processing data comes with significant practical challenges. First, spatiotemporal images are extremely high-dimensional which limits fast data acquisition. Second, physical design constraints of the acquisition devices (such as size and weight limitations of the satellite) limit attaining higher spatial resolution. As a result, there is a tradeoff between spatial and temporal (or spectral) resolution when designing a system. For example, expensive multiple detector arrays are usually required for recording multispectral bands. By lowering the spatial resolution of each detector, more bands may be contained on the sensor for the same cost. Similar trade-offs are observed in many other spatiotemporal imaging modalities.
Rugged Network File ServersTBMG-351179/1/2019
Ampex Data Systems Hayward, CA 650-367-2011
Panoramic Thermal Imaging Technology19AERP06_036/1/2019
A New Concept in Naval Defense SPYNEL sensors are passive wide area surveillance systems with automatic intrusion detection and tracking capabilities. The 360° thermal sensors offer 24/7 situational awareness by detecting and tracking an unlimited number of targets in real time, on land, air and sea. HGH Infrared Systems recently won a multimillion contract from a leading shipyard, to equip three new warships with the latest generation of SPYNEL panoramic thermal cameras.
Panoramic Thermal Imaging TechnologyTBMG-345356/1/2019
SPYNEL sensors are passive wide area surveillance systems with automatic intrusion detection and tracking capabilities. The 360° thermal sensors offer 24/7 situational awareness by detecting and tracking an unlimited number of targets in real time, on land, air and sea. HGH Infrared Systems recently won a multi-million contract from a leading shipyard, to equip three new warships with the latest generation of SPYNEL panoramic thermal cameras.
Editorial19AVEP05_015/1/2019
AVs, data and ‘surveillance capitalism’ I finally hit my limit after seeing a Twitter post-from, almost paradoxically, a privacy engineer at Google-showing a taxi cab in Asia with a passenger-area screen announcing it was employing facial recognition “to deliver the most optimized content” to the rider. “The image data is discarded immediately,” the little tablet professed.
Visnic, Bill
Video EncodersTBMG-341314/1/2019
Delta Digital Video Horsham, PA 215-657-5270
Naval Surveillance SystemTBMG-341244/1/2019
CONTROP Precision Technologies Ltd. Hod Hasharon, Israel +972-9-744-0661
High-Voltage Power Line Multi-Sensor SystemTBMG-336942/1/2019
Government infrastructure facilities such as water treatment facilities, power plants, laboratories, and the like may be targets for terrorist attacks. Similarly, oil pipelines, power grids, warehouses, factories, laboratories, and the like in the commercial sector may be targeted by terrorists or persons engaging in industrial espionage and sabotage. When these facilities are remotely located, the limited or nonexistent power sources in the area may prevent or severely restrict the employment of cameras, sensors, and other intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) devices. Thus, there is a need to overcome these limitations while providing around-the-clock persistent support and similar capabilities.
Micro-Mirror Optical Tracking and Ranging SystemTBMG-336862/1/2019
An innovative optical sensing and tracking system was designed to detect, track, and determine object distance and direction in a wide, full, solid angle (160 × 160°) with an extremely high spatial resolution (0.5°). A key design feature is the laser beam steering system comprised of micro-mirrors that spin and tilt synchronously to steer the beam across a predetermined scanning angle and interval in a conically shaped scan pattern.
Military Vehicle Situational Awareness SystemTBMG-3301510/1/2018
Computech International (CTI) Tikva, Israel +972-3-9211110
Algorithm Enables Drones to Work in a Coordinated ApproachTBMG-3312510/1/2018
An algorithm was developed that enables a team of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to communicate and work toward a common goal. The tool could be used to improve security or capture images simultaneously over a large area.
Armored Vehicle Mission Management SystemTBMG-329039/1/2018
Bird Aerosystems Herzliya, Israel +972 9 9725700
5 Ws of the PHADE Addressing SystemTBMG-324878/1/2018
PHADE could be used by government agencies to enhance public safety; for example, the government can deploy cameras in high-crime or high-accident areas, and warn specific users about potential threats. PHADE also can be used in places such as museums, where visitors can receive messages with information about the artifacts or exhibits they are viewing. It could be implemented in shopping malls to provide consumers with digital product information or coupons.
Tech Briefs: June 201818AERP066/1/2018
Beyond VMEbus - A New Concept Taming the Thermal Behavior of Solid-State Military Lasers Solving the Challenge of Thermal Design in Aerospace Electronics Improving Component Life in Abrasive, Corrosive Aerospace Environments New Pulse Analysis Techniques for Radar and EW Validation of Ubiquitous 2D Radar Converting Existing Copper Wire Firing System to a Fiber-Optically Controlled Firing System for Electromagnetic Pulsed Power Experiments Technological improvements make pulsed-power experiments with gunpowder- or air-driven guns safer. Low-Cost Ground Sensor Network for Intrusion Detection COTS-based system could provide increased level of security with less manpower. In-Network Processing on Low-Cost IoT Nodes for Maritime Surveillance Commercially available system of distributed wireless sensors could increase the Navy's intelligence collection footprint. Co-Prime Frequency and Aperture Design for HF Surveillance, Wideband Radar Imaging, and Nonstationary Array Processing Developing novel co-prime sampling and array design strategies to achieve high-resolution estimation of spectral power distributions and signal direction-of-arrivals (DOAs).
Videogrammetry in Vehicle Crash Reconstruction with a Moving Video Camera2018-01-05324/3/2018
In an accident reconstruction, vehicle speeds and positions are always of interest. When provided with scene photographs or fixed-location video surveillance footage of the crash itself, close-range photogrammetry methods can be useful in locating physical evidence and determining vehicle speeds and locations. Available 3D modeling software can be used to virtually match photographs or fixed-location video surveillance footage. Dash- or vehicle-mounted camera systems are increasingly being used in light vehicles, commercial vehicles and locomotives. Suppose video footage from a dash camera mounted to one of the vehicles involved in the accident is provided for an accident reconstruction but EDR data is unavailable for either of the vehicles involved. The literature to date describes using still photos to locate fixed objects, using video taken from stationary camera locations to determine the speed of moving objects or using video taken from a moving vehicle to locate fixed objects. However, techniques to evaluate the position, speed and acceleration of moving objects seen in video taken from moving locations have not been evaluated. To address the increasing prevalence of dash cams and other in-vehicle video and the value in using such video in vehicle crash reconstruction, this paper describes techniques for determining the position and speed of a moving object from digital video taken from a moving vehicle. Evaluations of the accuracy of those techniques were done when provided three different levels of information about the environment: 1 Aerial Photography (USGS) 2 Survey Data (Total Station) 3 3D Scan Data (of both the environment and vehicles)
Manuel, Emmanuel Jay, Mink, Richard, Kruger, Daniel
Nett WarriorTBMG-287914/1/2018
Nett Warrior is the US Army's next generation US integrated soldier system that replaces Land Warrior. It is designed to be an integrated dismounted situational awareness and mission command system for use during combat operations that enables fast and accurate decision-making during tactical operations.
Counter UAV SystemTBMG-287904/1/2018
SteekRock UAV London, UK +44 (0) 20 7491 8186
Sensitivity Simulation of Compressed Sensing Based Electronic Warfare Receiver Using Orthogonal Matching Pursuit AlgorithmTBMG-2764710/1/2017
Electronic Intelligence Receiver (ELINT) is an important component in electronic warfare (EW) and layer sensing. The information it provides by constant surveillance can be used to detect, track and classify signals across the electromagnetic spectrum. The proper identification and reaction to the threat can avoid disaster and assure spectrum dominance for Air Force systems.
Ruggedized Computer Rack CasesTBMG-2765210/1/2017
Verotec Inc Manchester, NH 603-821-9921
Airborne Integrated Voice, Data, and ADS-B in Compliance with the FAA and FCCF-0072-2016-114095/17/2016
This paper addresses the design, development, and operations of a portable wireless airborne voice and data communication system that permits use of cell phones without violating the regulatory restrictions of the FCC or FAA. This same system also serves to integrate Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) information into a single interoperable solution for improved situational awareness and command and control using commercially available edge devices such as smart phones and tablets. The Airborne Communication Platform™ (ACP), an optional enhancement to the Airborne Flight Reporting System™ (AFRS), provides an affordable, yet robust and FAA and FCC-compliant "black box" for a wide range of real-time voice and data communications between air and ground assets. Through a combination of multi-modal radios and programmable cellular frequencies, both voice telephony and data telemetry are possible using commercial-grade cell phones switched to "Airplane Mode." This enables voice and data communications outside of the restricted frequency range stipulated by either FAA or FCC for aircraft operations. Advantages include sending real-time flight performance, ADS-B information, and systems health and usage data while simultaneously permitting global voice communications on the ground and enroute at any altitude.
Stanzione, Kaydon
Method to Determine Instantaneous Speeds and Acceleration from Surveillance Video2016-01-14694/5/2016
High image quality video surveillance systems have proliferated making it more common to have collision-related video footage that is suitable for detailed analysis. This analysis begins by using variety of methods to reconstruct a series of positions for the vehicle. If the frame rate is known or can be estimated, then the average travel speed between each of those vehicle positions can be found. Unfortunately with video surveillance systems, the frame rates are typically low and the vehicle may be hidden from view for multiple frames. As a result there are often relatively large time steps between known vehicle positions and the average speed between known positions becomes less useful. The method outlined here determines the instantaneous speed and acceleration time history of the vehicle that was required for it to arrive at the known positions, at the known times. The position time history is reviewed and approximately broken in phases of constant acceleration (whether negative, positive or equal to zero). A Monte Carlo simulation is run using randomly chosen accelerations and durations for each phase. The start speed is estimated from the video and also used as a random variable in the Monte Carlo analysis. The resulting piecewise continuous model of the driver’s acceleration behavior is used to predict the vehicle’s position time history, which is compared with a least squares fit against the known positions to find the best overall match with the surveillance video. A series of staged tests done with known speed and acceleration time histories was conducted. The resulting video footage taken with a consumer surveillance system was analyzed using this method and the results were compared with the known values.
Luker, Craig
Furuno Radar/SureTrak Interface SoftwareTBMG-2325811/1/2015
The Wallops Flight Facility Launch Range has a need to interface data from ship surveillance Furuno radar to an existing surveillance display system (SureTrak). SureTrak is a multi-sensor waterway and air surveillance system. The display of Furuno radar data by the SureTrak system will be used for risk analysis purposes prior to rocket launches. The capability did not exist within the SureTrak system to ingest data from the Furuno radar. This software application was developed to provide the needed data interface capability within the SureTrak system. In addition to providing a data interface to SureTrak, the software application will also provide a data interface to another software application that performs probability of impact calculations on the ships reported by the Furuno radar.
Risk-Adaptive Engine for Secure ADS-B Broadcasts2015-01-25209/15/2015
Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) [1] is a technology that can be viewed either as a complement or as an alternative to current radar-based surveillance techniques. Despite its many benefits, this technology suffers from the security flaw of having its messages sent as clear text broadcasts, which makes it vulnerable to several kinds of attacks affecting the authenticity and integrity of ADS-b messages - a problem we addressed with a security framework presented in previous work [2]. In this paper, we propose to enhance that initial work by using keyed-hash message authentication code [3] (HMAC) to ensure the authenticity and integrity of ADS-B messages. The proposed improvements include changing the structure of the security-related data and, more importantly, adding a cognitive risk adaptive module. These improvements resulted in four main contributions. First, the new structure of the security-related data is more resilient to messages being lost or scrambled. Second, the risk-adaptive cognitive engine facilitates the physical risk assessment of the ADS-B attacks, based on the collected data describing the aircraft and its surrounding environment. Third, air traffic controllers using the framework have better support for optimizing the use of the air space and minimizing disruptions. Fourth, the framework improves adaptability of ATC surveillance operations by leveraging the collected physical data from the aircraft.
Kacem, Thabet, Carvalho, Jeronymo, Wijesekera, Duminda, Costa, Paulo, Monteiro, Márcio, Barreto, Alexandre
Spy Blimps Revisited: A Performance Comparison between Two Competing Approaches2015-01-25799/15/2015
While operational airships globally number in the low dozens, interest in buoyant or semi-buoyant platforms continues to arouse imaginations of commercial and military planners and developers alike. The airship-as-advertisement business model is the only model that has proven sustainable on any scale since the crash of the initially successful LZ-128 Hindenburg effectively ended regular passenger and cargo transport by airship, and the 1962 termination of the US Naval airship program terminated regular large-scale surveillance from airships. Efforts in the US and Japan during the 2000's to have a self-sustaining sight-seeing business model using the modern semi-rigid Zeppelin NT both failed. In theory, the buoyant nature of airships provides compelling endurance and cost-per-ton-mile capability which fills a niche arguably not currently occupied by other modes of transportation. The potential endurance capability motivated the US Military to fund two nearly-simultaneous airship surveillance programs in 2010. Having similar missions, the primary differentiator between the two programs had to do with choice of basic hull form. The Army's Long endurance Multi-Intelligence vehicle was to be a lifting-body semi-buoyant “hybrid” vehicle. The Air Force's Blue Devil Block 2 was to be a conventional ellipsoidal airship. The author's pre-contract-award 2010 paper compared the loitering performance of the two platforms using a basic mission simulation, giving the nod to the conventional ship. This study revisits the basic assumptions of the simulation in view of new publicly available aerodynamic information, and revises the results, finding the hybrid to be the superior option.
Buerge, Brandon Todd
Cameras for All-Sky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) Version 1.3TBMG-223967/1/2015
The CAMS system comprises a deployment of multiple narrow-field, low-light video cameras that completely covers the sky in a mosaic pattern from 30° elevation and above. Two or three such camera batteries separated by many kilometers allow for large atmospheric volume coverage, high spatial resolution, and the high probability of viewing a meteor from more than one site for triangulation and thus atmospheric path reconstruction.
SMAP Radiometer Instrument Science Signal and Data Processing Software (SPS)TBMG-221816/1/2015
This technology was developed for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission and for the IRAD-FY13 Technology for Radiometer RFI Noise Detection & Mitigation Based on HHT2. Spacecraft beyond the present state-of-the-art passive radiometry will make use of natural thermal emissions to remotely sense Earth phenomena of interest to science (soil moisture, for example) in the technologically challenging microwave L-band. In this 1.4-GHz band (used by SMAP), a terrestrial source thermal signal emission to space suffers less attenuation by the intervening atmosphere. Unfortunately, the relative insensitivity of the L-band region to atmospheric effects also makes it an extremely attractive spectral range for wireless communications and radars that are causing radio frequency interference (RFI) with the spaceflight science radiometer instruments’ terrestrial phenomenon signal of interest, even as this band is protected by radio-communication regulations. Detection and excision or mitigation of the RFI-contaminated measurements is a challenge to the state of the art.
CHOPPA-M: Development, Capabilities and Applications to Helicopter Operations ResearchF-0071-2015-102245/5/2015
ABSTRACT CHOPPA-M is a multi-resolution, multi-agent simulation framework developed to complement the existing CHOPPA (Combined Helicopter OPerations and Performance Analysis) framework. Like CHOPPA, it is designed to support operations research methods through simulation. It does so by presenting a consistent user interface and architecture for the modelling of autonomous systems across a variety of physical environments. These autonomous systems, or agents, may then participate in a pre-defined operational scenario. This describes CHOPPA-M's scene/vignette approach. In this paper, the background, architecture and user interface of CHOPPA-M are described. The development of some of the software's agent models are detailed and then employed in a case study: a maritime surveillance helicopter participating in a search and engage operation. From this case study, some conclusions are drawn. Finally, the future direction of CHOPPA-M is discussed.
Ireland, Murray, Chandran, Arvind, Anderson, David, Thomson, Douglas, Ferguson, Kevin, Ibal, Gokhan
Integrated Underwater Security SystemTBMG-215182/1/2015
ATLAS ELEKTRONIK UK Winfrith Newburgh, Dorchester, UK +44-1305-212400
Time Series Product Tool (TSPT) Version 2.0TBMG-2096511/1/2014
The Time Series Product Tool (TSPT) is a MATLAB-based software application that computes and displays high-quality vegetation and environmental monitoring indices from high temporal revisit rate Mod erate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and other satellite sensors. The original purpose of the TSPT was to fuse MODIS Terra and Aqua products to improve the temporal interpolation and filtering of time series affected by clouds. TSPT provides single-timeframe and multi-temporal change images as time series plots at a selected location, or as temporally processed image videos. The labor involved with manually creating these types and quantities of products is considerable; however, by using the TSPT, this process becomes simplified, efficient, and largely automated. This software tool enables and/or aides in the rapid regional surveillance of crops, forests, and other vegetative surfaces.
PACIFIC: Process Algebra Capture of Intent from Information ContentTBMG-205799/1/2014
Mixed-initiative teams of robots and humans working side-by-side in close proximity to each other need to be capable of reasoning about the actions and activities of each other within a mission context. This capability requires the robotic agents to have a sense of self, and their roles and responsibilities.
Adaptive Distributed Aviation Asset Optimization for Operational Effectiveness (Phase II)F-0070-2014-96005/20/2014
The paper describes the use of an Intelligent Decision-aiding Agent (IDA) associate for management of distributed aviation assets during warfighter net-centric operations. VELOXITI, Inc. (formerly Applied Systems Intelligence, Inc.), is collaborating with government personnel to demonstrate and evaluate a Situational Awareness Fusion Enhancement (SAFE) Aid in a man-in-the-loop experimentation environment as part of an Aviation Development Directorate - Applied Aviation Technology Directorate (ADD-AATD) Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project. Last year’s Phase I focus was on defining the requirements for integrating a collaborative adaptive tasking system (CATS) into a full mission simulation environment. This year’s efforts have grown into the SAFE Aid Intelligent Decision-Aiding Associate (IDA) system which incorporates a platform agnostic Intelligent Associate System for scout/attack/utility helicopters, and which will be integrated, demonstrated and evaluated in an operationally relevant man-in-the-loop simulation environment. SAFE Aid is intended to dramatically increase situational awareness within the cockpit and allow the ability to identify and access multiple Surveillance and Reconnaissance assets with a single bezel button to automatically task manned and unmanned assets. This tasking is based upon prioritization of Area of Operations (AO) events that optimizes all Surveillance and Reconnaissance assets to cover high priority events in the AO. SAFE Aid also enables aircrew safe route planning functionality, collision avoidance, predictive aircraft positioning, over the horizon weather updates, and many other operationally relevant functionality for scout/reconnaissance/attack/utility helicopter missions including MEDEVAC support. This paper will show the development, integration, demonstration and evaluation of the SAFE Aid technology that reduces aircrew workload and enables aircrews to effectively manage and utilize distributed aviation assets, without impairing their operational performance on other flight tasks. Aircrews will fly operationally relevant mission vignettes in a laboratory simulation environment with SAFE Aid operating and without SAFE Aid operating. Data collection and analysis of aircrew responsiveness will assess the aircrew’s ability to optimize interaction between manned and unmanned aircraft within a relevant mission context environment. Mission safety will be demonstrated using the ability for the system to incorporate additional knowledge bases adapted to accommodate evolving Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs). Mission demonstrations will involve multiple aircrews operating in two simultaneous mission simulation environments. Operational effectiveness and situational awareness requirements will consider data and user interfaces, real-time performance and human interaction issues. These defined requirements will aid in documenting the evaluation criteria for the SAFE Aid IDA. Evaluation criteria consider collection and analysis of the measurements for both a simulator-based environment and for full flight environments. The ultimate goal is to identify IDA benefits for aircrew members when the SAFE Aid system is operating, as compared to when the system is not operating, and the impact this has on operationally relevant mission scenario success.
Shepard, Charles, Merrihew, John, Geddes, Norm, Toney, Steve, Lafferty, Larry
Benchmarking of UAV Guidance Systems in Nap of the Earth (NOE) FlightF-0070-2014-96725/20/2014
This paper describes the development of a proposed framework of metrics for the evaluation of the performance of aircraft guidance systems. The methodologies and metrics developed remain generally agnostic to whether or not the aircraft is manned. Although more complicated missions such as autonomous exploration/search, ferry, surveillance, multi-agent collaboration, and manned flight may be addressed at a later time, A-B flight scenarios are chosen to study the proposed metrics. The proposed metrics will form building blocks for the more complicated missions. Metrics development has thus far generally focused on NOE flight, and in particular on the observability of the vehicle throughout its mission. That is, a formulation of probability of detection by potential and generally unknown threats in the mission area will be the main metric. Secondary metrics provide insight into the vehicle's trajectory quality in terms of safety and comfort, experienced by both humans and machines are described as well. Scalability of the benchmarking system is also important and benchmarking should be general enough to allow guidance algorithms to be graded independently of the vehicle platform, for instance. Non-dimensionalization metrics will address this concern.
Bershadsky, Dmitry, Johnson, Eric
Unmanned Demonstrator Aircraft for Maritime SurveillanceTBMG-196335/1/2014
Northrop Grumman Falls Church, VA 703-280-2900
The Evolution of Airline Safety and Security Programs2013-01-22299/17/2013
Career paths are not something that one can predict. They are as much about being in the right spot at the right time with the desired skill set as they are about having a detailed, calculated plan. How does one go from being a young Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) test engineer to being an airline Senior Vice President of Safety, Security and Compliance and the joint industry/FAA co-chair of the Commercial Aviation Safety Team? It is a bit unusual that a non-pilot ends up on an airline Operations Specification listed as the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 119 Director of Safety for one of the largest airlines in the world. Engineering background and experience were key stepping stones on that journey along with a healthy dose of skepticism. An initial assignment to make an airline's safety program robust, credible and data driven, much like the very successful aircraft reliability programs, set the direction and path forward. Today's commercial airline safety and security programs incorporate sophisticated hazard identification and risk mitigation processes taking advantage of millions of data points painstakingly reviewed for hints of emerging issues and trends. Working with just one airline's data is no longer sufficient. Broader industry analysis is required utilizing experience and information from airline partners, both domestic and international, as well as the wealth of public information available, from government radar surveillance data to social media.
Hylander, Kenneth J.
Rugged IP-Based Video Surveillance System Keeps Taipei Trains MovingTBMG-166366/1/2013
Averaging 1.6 million passengers per day, the Taipei Metro, also known as the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, is one of the busiest transportation systems in Asia and has become an important driver for business and lifestyle in Taiwan. To ensure smooth and reliable operations and keep a watchful eye on the security and safety of riders, a CCTV-based onboard video surveillance system has been in place on a number of Taipei Metro carriages since 2010. The system makes it possible for train drivers to access live video images of critical areas, and video recordings are also available for later review and analysis.
Thermal-to-Visible Face RecognitionTBMG-1488010/1/2012
For nighttime surveillance, acquisition of visible light imagery is impractical due to the lack of illumination. Thermal imaging, which acquires mid-wave infrared or long-wave infrared radiation naturally emitted by the human body, can be utilized in low-light conditions to perform surveillance tasks. Identification of individuals captured by thermal imaging would significantly enhance nighttime intelligence gathering capabilities. However, government watch lists and databases almost exclusively contain visible-light face imagery of individuals of interest. Matching thermal face imagery to the existing databases therefore requires the development of across-modality face recognition algorithms and methods. Due to the large modality gap caused by the wavelength difference between visible and thermal radiation, thermal-to-visible face recognition is a challenging problem.
ASIC Readout Circuit Architecture for Large Geiger Photodiode ArraysTBMG-147099/1/2012
The objective of this work was to develop a new class of readout integrated circuit (ROIC) arrays to be operated with Geiger avalanche photodiode (GPD) arrays, by integrating multiple functions at the pixel level (smart-pixel or active pixel technology) in 250-nm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processes. In order to pack a maximum of functions within a minimum pixel size, the ROIC array is a full, custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design using a mixed-signal CMOS process with compact primitive layout cells.
Rugged Processors and Ethernet SwitchesTBMG-144588/1/2012
GE (Towcester, UK) will be supplying General Dynamics UK with subsystems required for the Demonstration Phase of the Scout Specialist Vehicle family of platforms being designed for the British Army. The Scout SV family of platforms will deliver a step change in ground-based ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) capability. It is a purpose-designed groundbased intelligence platform with an array of high-performance sensors, coupled with the latest (20 Gbits/second) Gigabit Ethernet intelligent open architecture. This will enable it to capture, analyze, manipulate and store over 6 TeraBytes of intelligence data, including a vast array of still and moving images, and to share this intelligence in real-, or very-near-real-time, depending on requirements. Thanks to this capability, Scout SV’s crew will be able to provide commanders with better decision-making support material than that currently available only from airborne ISTAR platforms or UAVs. Data will be readily passed to other secure C4I systems, including those of US and other NATO allies.
Surveillance SystemsTBMG-139506/1/2012
Logos Technologies has begun delivery of the first two electro- optical/infrared Kestrel wide-area persistent surveillance systems to the U.S. Army for deployment on aerostats at forward operating bases (FOBs) in Afghanistan. Replacing interim, day-only Kestrels rushed to the battlefield last October, the new persistent surveillance systems will now offer sensor operators on the ground round-the-clock coverage of a forward operating base’s environs. This means greater protection for the warfighter in and around “the wire.”
Aerospace Engineering 2012-02-1512AERD02152/15/2012
Bright outlook for glass cockpits Cockpits are adopting larger screens and touch input, using modularity to ease upgrades. Composites give copters a lift Design, fabrication, and analysis of a tail rotor blade made of composite laminated materials for a heavy transport helicopter. Taming overruns with simulation For aerospace projects, cost overruns and program delays start in the concept and proposal stage. How could using today's advanced CAE simulations earlier reduce that risk? Going modular with airborne radar Innovative approaches to solving the affordability challenge posed by too many specialist airborne surveillance systems. Efficient & effective leadership Frank O. Klegon, a 30-year SAE member and former product development VP at Chrysler, brings 'customer first' approach to term as SAE International's chief elective officer.
Optical Comb From a Whispering Gallery Mode Resonator for Spectroscopy and Astronomy Instruments CalibrationTBMG-127772/1/2012
The most accurate astronomical data is available from space-based observations that are not impeded by the Earth’s atmosphere. Such measurements may require spectral samples taken as long as decades apart, with the 1 cm/s velocity precision integrated over a broad wavelength range. This raises the requirements specifically for instruments used in astrophysics research missions — their stringent wavelength resolution and accuracy must be maintained over years and possibly decades. Therefore, a stable and broadband optical calibration technique compatible with spaceflights becomes essential. The space-based spectroscopic instruments need to be calibrated in situ, which puts forth specific requirements to the calibration sources, mainly concerned with their mass, power consumption, and reliability.
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