Sensors and Environment -- Projects

Advanced Coding Techniques for Complex SensorSystems

Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE)

Autonomous Negotiation Teams and Network Embedded Software Technologies (ANTS/NEST)

Joint Time Critical Targeting (TCT) Experimentation

Multi-Sensor and Multi-Platform Exploitation for Combat ID

Netted RF Sensors

Resource Management for Netted Sensors

Simulation of Passive and Active Radar for Coherent Location and Exploitation (SPARCLE)

State Predicted Interference Cancellation and Equalization

Vegetation Forensics

Sensors and Environment

Sensors and Environment researches technologies employed to detect, monitor, and characterize the environment (terrain, weather, targets, etc.) to determine position within that environment (geoposition), and to manage, exploit and disseminate positional data (geographic information systems). The use of radar, optical, sonic, and multispectral sensors is covered.

Advanced Coding Techniques for Complex Sensor Systems

Jeff Woodard, Principal Investigator

Washington only

Problem
There is a need to demonstrate high fidelity compression and high resolution spectral analysis of acoustic data.

Objectives
The project seeks to achieve faster and more reliable acoustic data transmission and enhanced acoustic intelligence extraction.

Activities
For the compression research, lossy and lossless coders will be obtained and used to compress real sonar data. Fidelity versus compression ratio is the main tradeoff of interest. For the spectral analysis, a variety of subband structures will be implemented and tested with real and synthetic sonar data. Resolving tonals better than conventional spectral analysis is the main goal.

Impacts
This work will lead to faster and more reliable acoustic data transmission and enhanced acoustic intelligence extraction.

Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE)

Sean D. O'Neil, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
As the US military has become adept at engaging fixed targets, our opponents have increasingly sought the sanctuary of movement. At the same time, our options for engaging such moving targets are either expensive, applicable only against specific targets and in specific conditions, risky (collateral or own-force damage), or a combination of the above.

Objectives
The Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) objective is to demonstrate affordable all-weather precision engagement of moving targets with minimal collateral damage and own-force risk. This will be accomplished through fusion of standoff ground moving target indicator (GMTI) assets providing precision track updates to a GPS-guided weapon.

Activities
FY02 activities are to demonstrate actual AMSTE-type engagements in a series of four live experiments involving multiple GMTI platforms and three different types of weapons engaging a mix of ground and maritime targets. There will also be a live experiment to demonstrate long-term continuous tracking against multiple targets in a challenging (hilly, wooded) environment.

Impacts
The impact of AMSTE will be to provide a flexible architecture to deny our foes the sanctuary of maneuver, as well as a significant increase in our general surface situation awareness capability through the development of continuous-tracking technology.

Autonomous Negotiation Teams and Network Embedded Software Technologies (ANTS/NEST)

Alex C. Meng, Principal Investigator

Washington only

Problem
With increasing use of large numbers of sensors in the battlefield, how to manage and use them effectively becomes an important problem. The sensors are distributed in the field with limited computation and communication resources. The ANTS and NEST programs are investigating the technology of bottom-up coordination and control in closed-loop interactions of sensors, subject to resource and environmental constraints.

Objectives
The objective of the ANTS/NEST program is to develop technologies for fusion of physical and information processes. NEST plans to build dependable, real-time, distributed, embedded applications comprising 10²-10⁵ computing nodes with sensors and actuators. The nodes are networked, and their operations are coordinated and dynamically reconfigured as a response to changing physical conditions and modes of operation in a closed loop interaction. MITRE defines and supports the Challenge Problem Experiments for both programs.

Activities
MITRE conducts experiments on the ANTS and NEST sensors to develop calibration procedures and understand their physical constraints. We also work with government contracting agencies to define the Challenge Problem scenarios, coordinate the experiments, collect the data and define metrics to evaluate the experiment results. MITRE also leads the technology transition effort, and helps packaging the technology in a readily transferable form.

Impacts
MITRE provides independent evaluation of the DARPA research teams to the PM. To evaluate competing approaches, MITRE advocates the use of a common Challenge Problem to put every ANTS and NEST team on par, define the common metrics and study the performance of each technical approach based on the experiment data. This methodology has proven to provide concrete insight to the PM to make critical decisions. MITRE leads the technology transfer effort for the programs.

Joint Time Critical Targeting (TCT) Experimentation

Sean D. O'Neil, Principal Investigator

Bedford only

Problem
The JEFX 02 goal is to consistently attack time-critical targets within 30 minutes of detection, which is an intermediate step towards the desired end state of attack within 10 minutes of detection. Even the intermediate goal requires a dramatic reduction in the time needed to execute the find, fix, track, target, and engage components of the "Kill Chain"(F2T2EA). Unfortunately, current methods for F2T2EA often require hours to complete, and thus are ineffective, and no single task appears to be the "long-pole."

Objectives
The objective is to develop and test time critical targeting (TCT)/time critical strike concepts and technology while leveraging the existing infrastructure at MITRE, focusing on integrating technologies critical to speeding up the F2T2EA process. The technical approach will be to integrate joint target development and execution methodologies as well as multi-sensor fusion algorithms and integrating and tuning those capabilities in the ESC Software Interoperability Facility for Time Critical Targeting (SWIFT) lab.

Activities
Current activities are integrating an MTI eXploitation (MTIX) workstation into the other TCT applications to improve ground situation awareness, integrating a collaborative tool for distributed target development, and installing sensor simulation and scenario generation tools. This will culminate in joint experiments carried out with the Navy Strike Cell in Reston and the Army Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD) lab in May and July.

Impacts
The enhanced capabilities in the SWIFT lab will be well suited for transition to ESC's 707 testbed and programs, and will address specific interoperability concerns of OSD and PEOs. Recommendations could influence technology R&D and acquisition decisions of the various services as well as joint targeting doctrine. Further, successful experimentation will set the stage for funding from the PEOs or OSD for additional inter-service missions.

Multi-Sensor and Multi-Platform Sensor Exploitation for Combat ID

Walter S. Kuklinski, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
An unresolved issue with most operational multi-sensor and multi-platform surveillance systems is an analytically tractable approach to target ID or automated target recognition (ATR). Historically, target ID/ATR systems have been developed through empirical approaches, leaving little means for understanding observed system performance or predicting the extent to which system performance could be improved by including data from new sensing modalities. Theoretical approaches to target ID/ATR can provide the ability to analyze and predict performance and therefore allow sensor systems developed for one application to be readily assessed in other problem domains.

Objectives
The primary objective of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate optimal fusion approaches for target ID. These fusion approaches will be developed within a unified analytic framework that will allow them to be readily employed in multiple problem domains. These diverse domains range from ground combat situations, where both non-cooperative and cooperative targets are present, to space-based and airborne multi-platform sensor systems.

Activities
The following case studies will produce and evaluate multi-platform combat ID (CID) algorithms and/or adaptive sensor tasking algorithms. 1) A multi-sensor automatic track verification algorithm will be developed and evaluated using data from the DARPA Moving Target Feature Phenomenology program. 2) A multi-phenomenology CID algorithm will be developed. 3) Space-based radar ground moving target indicator track association and sensor tasking algorithms will be developed and evaluated.

Impacts
The approaches developed in this project will improve time-critical targeting (TCT) performance and will assist the automation of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks towards the goals of information superiority and global awareness that are the Joint Vision 2020 Integrated Command and Control target end states.

Netted RF Sensors

Ronald B. Young, Principal Investigator

Bedford only

Problem
Netted sensor concepts are based on the supposition that modestly performing distributed sensors, netted together using ubiquitous communication and advanced processing, provide an output significantly greater than both the performance of any single sensor and the sum of individual contributors. However, there is no general theory to validate this supposition; simulations and experiments would be needed to support it.

Objectives
This project seeks to develop a set of principles to guide the application of netted sensors for measurable performance and cost. This will be done by using simulation and experimentation to study the tradeoffs among the number of sensors, their deployment, and sensor complexity.

Activities
The project will address the specific problem of using RF sensors to detect and track vehicles in a battlefield environment. Modeling and simulation tools are being developed to simulate multiple RF sensors observing moving entities on a battlefield. Experiments will be conducted with COTS hardware to validate and complement the simulation effort. The results from this specific problem will then be extended to more general ones.

Impacts
The results and "lessons learned" from this program will have a significant impact on a number of our sponsor's programs that are currently making use of, or planning to make use of, netted sensors. Several important problems requiring the integration of sensors include combat identification, time critical targeting, electronic attack/electronic protection, underground facility characterization, and nuclear-chemical-biological agent detection.

Resource Management for Netted Sensors

Harry Hogenkamp, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
A critical enabling element of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and other network-centric warfare concepts is exquisite situational awareness, which many of MITRE's sponsors assume will be developed through broadly distributed networks of heterogeneous sensors. The lack of algorithms for effective management of networks of distributed, resource-constrained sensors may hinder fielding this "sine qua non" capability.

Objectives
Our hypothesis is that a distributed resource management (RM) approach is required to successfully implement netted sensing and that RM can be, and should be, pursued in a sensor-independent way. The objective of this research is to develop algorithmic guidelines and principles for managing resources for netted sensors, including the control and management of sensor elements, ad hoc networks of sensor elements, and the network in general.

Activities
We will formulate distributed RM for netted sensors as a distributed constraint satisfaction problem (DCSP). The constraint variables will be a set of local resource parameters, such as power consumption or communications and network bandwidth, and the ranges of feasible values, as well as higher-level system constraints. This project will apply a DCSP approach to managing resources of distributed sensors and investigate netted air acoustics sensors for US Customs Service (USCS) applications.

Impacts
Sensor-independent RM algorithms are directly applicable to (1) the Army's FCS and Advanced Hornet/Raptor Wide Area Munitions, (2) the Navy's Expeditionary Sensor Grid; (3) MITRE's proposed SeaBot effort; (4) DARPA's Network Embedded Software Technologies, Multi-function EW System, SenseIT, and Smart Sensor Web; (5) Special Operations Command's Multi-Intelligence Reporting and Signal Sensor; and (6) USCS Netted Surveillance.

Simulation of Passive and Active Radar for Coherent Location and Exploitation (SPARCLE)

John Uber, Principal Investigator

Washington only

Problem
The technology for passive coherent location (PCL) is not new, but is receiving renewed interest from the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and other sponsors as a possible adjunct to an Integrated Air Defense System (IADS). Fearing that current radars have been well characterized by potential adversaries from an ECCM perspective, there is an increased interest in further investigating PCL capabilities for improving native air defense.

Objectives
We will provide an analysis toolset that will lead to understanding that will guide potential new development in PCL technologies to support both DOD and Intelligence Community applications. The study will consider the value added that a PCL system provides to an overall air and missile defense system and investigate the logical role for PCL to provide value to an IADS.

Activities
Previous work has already developed the basic scenario generation architecture and monostatic and bistatic radar models for theater ballistic missile threat analysis. This legacy tool is being modified to include more precise multistatic radar modeling for rapid development of a theoretical error analysis model to estimate the minimal achievable track accuracy for an optimal tracking filter against air-breathing, low-altitude threats.

Impacts
MITRE can establish a lead role in the assessment and quantification of the inherent limitations of PCL. The analysis tool will provide extremely valuable scenario-dependent estimates and a better understanding of the value added of a PCL system to an overall air defense network. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, NIC, and the IADS communities will all benefit from having MITRE conduct systems engineering trade studies.

State Predicted Interference Cancellation and Equalization (SPICE)

John D. Fite, Principal Investigator

Bedford only

Problem
The demand for more data in less time via wireless links has resulted in an increasingly crowded RF spectrum. As a result, in many cases, co-channel interference, instead of noise, has become the primary factor limiting the performance of communication, navigation, and sensor systems. To achieve optimum performance, new interference cancellation methods are needed to remove the co-channel interference.

Objectives
The objective of this project is to develop and assess the performance of advanced nonlinear interference cancellation and equalization methods for next-generation communication and sensor systems.

Activities
Research areas include the development and refinement of multi-user detection (MUD) algorithms for CDMA systems. Activities include the assessment of current methods and development of new, computationally efficient MUD algorithms tailored to military environments.

Impacts
The technology being developed in this project is critical to next-generation communication, navigation, and sensor systems. These systems will not be able to achieve the needed capacity, detection sensitivity, and navigational accuracy without the performance improvement provided by the new interference cancellation algorithms. Already, the products of this project are being integrated into customer-sponsored sensor development projects.

Vegetation Forensics

Sherry L. Olson, Principal Investigator

Washington only

Problem
Nefarious activities are often extremely difficult to detect directly with today's sensor technology, due to the clandestine and transient nature of activities as well as active denial and deception techniques employed. Indirect sensing techniques may provide the most benefit in some cases.

Objectives
Research shows that environmental pollutants, as well as oil, salt, and metals, affect plants in ways that can be measured both in the laboratory and with remote sensing. The stress to plants can be measured after single events or after long-term exposure. This research will demonstrate the application of indirect sensing of vegetation stress stemming from activities of national security interest.

Activities
We will conduct plant biology experiments on healthy and stressed vegetation to characterize the effects of stress agents on vegetation under varying conditions. We will collect laboratory and field signatures of the vegetation being studied and conduct remote sensing experiments using this ground truth data. Laboratory, field, and remote spectral data will be analyzed to determine the detection limits and the ability to distinguish between types of stresses caused by natural, nefarious, and benign activities.

Impacts
Indirect sensing of indicators, such as vegetation stress, has the potential to have a large impact on difficult problems susceptible to denial and deception. Counter-drug applications and other national security concerns where direct sensing of activities range from difficult to extremely difficult are prime candidates. Transition opportunities of this vegetation stress research will be pursued with national and military intelligence organizations.