SSCI Wins Navy Grant to Develop Super-Resolution Optics for Tactical Sensors
June 5, 2009 by news
Program Leverages SSCI Leadership in Developing Intelligent Autonomous Unmanned Systems Technology
WOBURN, MA, June 5, 2009 – Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI), a leading developer of technology solutions for defense and industrial suppliers, today announced it has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Navy to develop super-resolution optics for tactical sensors. The Small Business Investment Research (SBIR) grant leverages SSCI’s leadership in technology enabling intelligent autonomous unmanned systems to perform their missions in hostile or challenging environments.
The SBIR program is seeking new technologies to create and capture image data beyond the range of current optical imaging systems used in battlefield situations and with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The technology must capture high-resolution images even in severe atmospheric conditions that can distort imagery such as drastic heat, turbulence or other events that distort visibility. SSCI will develop technology for super-resolving terrestrial scenes, focusing on flexible image reconstruction algorithms exploiting fast, lightweight graphics processing units. The new technology will enhance the performance and ability of intelligent unmanned systems to operate more independently than in the past.
“Being selected for this critical U.S. Navy development program underscores the importance of the technologies SSCI is developing,” said Dr. Raman Mehra, Founder & CEO. “SSCI’s technology platform provides the brains and nervous systems of unmanned vehicles that need to operate collaboratively and seamlessly with manned assets to accomplish missions in challenging environments.”
SSCI is one of the nation’s top recipients of SBIR grants. The funding, for Phase I of the Super-Resolution Optics for Tactical Sensors program, is for an “end-to-end optical imaging system prototype that will produce images at a 1Hz rate, with image resolutions at or beyond the diffraction limit, under severe atmospheric conditions.” SBIR grants are designed to stimulates technological innovation and promote the productivity and economic growth of the nation by engaging private enterprise in productive innovation projects for the U.S. government.
About Scientific Systems Company, Inc.
Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) pioneers products and technologies that provide the intelligence for unmanned ground, air and maritime vehicles to autonomously and collaboratively accomplish missions in difficult environments. A leading developer of technology solutions for defense and industrial suppliers, SSCI is one of the top 20 recipients of Small Business Innovation Research awards in the U.S. and is recognized by the U.S. Navy and Army for its record of successful technology transitions. A privately held company based in Massachusetts, SSCI collaborates with a network of defense industry prime contractors and consultants, drawing on an accumulated investment of over $150 million in advanced research and development funding.
Contact:
Greg Moeller
(781) 933-5355 x295
gmoeller@ssci.com
SSCI-led team of Lockheed Martin, iRobot and Kairos Autonomi to develop datafusion algorithms for the Office of Naval Research (ONR)
May 18, 2009 by news
WOBURN, MA, May 18, 2009 – The Office of Naval Research today awarded Scientific Systems a Phase I SBIR contract today to develop algorithms that would allow soldiers to more effectively exploit data for tracking multiple targets simultaneously, which is critically important in a broad range of military applications.
Autonomous decentralized multiplatform information fusion in littoral and riverine environments using dispersed and highly disparate heterogeneous sensors on unmanned systems is a major theoretical and practical challenge. Besides highly diverse information types, systems of this kind must deal with potentially large target numbers, closely-spaced targets, potentially dense clutter, limited communication bandwidth and intermittency. The Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) team proposes a foundational approach, based on five innovations: (1) a multisensor-multitarget likelihood function that encapsulates all relevant information regarding the characteristics of the various sensors situated on various platforms; (2) unified probabilistic representation and Bayesian processing of heterogeneous information types, such as radar, EO/IR images, acoustics, and even inference rules and natural-language statements; (3) a dynamic “tactical importance function” (TIF) that mathematically specifies the meaning of target prioritization (“tactical significance”) for a given theater at any given moment, thus providing a statistical basis for automatic operator alerting; (4) integration of these concepts with track-before-detect filters; and (5)theoretically rigorous incorporation of the constraints due to the platform, terrain, and other communication-systems topologies and constraints. Under this approach, information from disparate fixed or mobile netted sensors, including UAV’s, USV’s and UUV’s, can be adaptively and optimally fused to create a common operational picture, based on a dynamically changing definition of target importance. Our project team includes Lockheed Martin, iRobot, and Kairos Autonomi. Lockheed Martin will provide both technical and commercialization support in the application of data fusion for Distributed Sensor Systems. iRobot and Kairos Autonomi will support fabrication of a prototype system in Phase II.
Data fusion and multi-target tracking is of major importance to the military, and is of critical importance to a broad range of military applications. The algorithms can be directly extended to commercial distributed traffic monitoring for intelligent highway systems, homeland security applications including facilities security, and for law enforcement applications such as border surveillance.
This research work moves Scientific Systems closer to its goal of enabling intelligent autonomy in unmanned systems by improving the man-machine interface between unattended sensors collecting information and the soldiers using the information.
About Scientific Systems Company, Inc.
Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) pioneers products and technologies that provide the intelligence for unmanned ground, air and maritime vehicles to autonomously and collaboratively accomplish missions in difficult environments. A leading developer of technology solutions for defense and industrial suppliers, SSCI is one of the top 20 recipients of Small Business Innovation Research awards in the U.S. and is recognized by the U.S. Navy and Army for its record of successful technology transitions. A privately held company based in Massachusetts, SSCI collaborates with a network of defense industry prime contractors and consultants, drawing on an accumulated investment of over $150 million in advanced research and development funding.
Contact:
Greg Moeller
(781) 933-5355 x295
gmoeller@ssci.com