TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Sensors, Electronics

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS 435, Integrated Submarine Imaging System (ISIS), ACAT IVT

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a hyperspectral imaging system suitable for integration into the Type 18 and/or Photonics Periscopes that will perform contact recognition and identification in a marine environment.

DESCRIPTION: Hyper-spectral sensors offer potential for improved detection and classification performance by sequentially imaging in narrow portions of the spectrum rather than an entire wavelength band at once. Such performance enhancement might include better penetration through adverse weather or obtaining additional information about targets of interest. In addition, NIR/SWIR hyper-spectral sensors have been shown to be effective in detecting single pixel targets that have spectrally unique signatures compared to the background in airborne platform imagery. Surface craft exhibit anomalous signatures compared to both water and sky horizon backgrounds in these spectral bands making autonomous detection from the ocean surface feasible.

The Navy needs a hyperspectral imaging system that will enable the continuous collection and real-time transmission of images, and that will process this hyperspectral information associate unique hyperspectral tags with contacts that can be used to facilitate automatic contact recognition and identification. The system should include a hyperspectral sensor with a zooming capability for zooming capability for high resolution imaging within a selected, narrower field of view. All critical sensor components (including the cryocooler for IR imaging camera if required) must be highly reliable and must work for at least 20,000 hours without replacement or maintenance (equivalent to MTBF ? 20,000 hour performance with 5,000 cool down cycles of a state-of-the-art cryocooler). The system should include the processing required to measure and associate a hyperspectral signature with an individual contact. Proposed solutions may be hardware and/or software based. Open Architecture solutions are preferred. Hardware solutions must fit in the current sensor volume and software solutions must operate on the existing or planned workstations. Solutions that use COTS and general purpose processors are preferred to solutions requiring proprietary or specialized processors.

PHASE I: Perform design and analysis of a hyperspectral imaging system based on the above results and show how the system will measure hyperspectral signatures in a way that will associate tag a signature with a given contact so the information can be used to as a database for automatic detection, recognition, and classification algorithms. Define its performance characteristics including hardware characteristics (including, but not limited to spatial resolution, spectral resolution, operational level of light, spectral coverage, zooming capability, speed of operation and data storage capability, power consumption and heat management), data transmission requirements, processing requirements (including but not limited to number, type, and size of processors and data storage requirements), and software algorithms. Discuss the method chosen to tag contacts with spectral signatures. Select the major components (including hyper spectral cameras, data transmission components, processors, and a cryocooler if needed) for proving feasibility of the proposed system. Analyze possible failure mechanisms and estimate sensor reliability based on performance of all the optical, mechanical, and cooling subsystems. Deliverables are expected to be an analysis report and design documentation.

PHASE II: Design and develop a full-scale prototype hyperspectral imaging system ready for periscope installation and conduct a land-based demonstration simulating at-sea conditions to show it will be able to perform at sea according to Phase I design specifications. Document the design and test results in a final report. Classified information may be involved in Phase II.

PHASE III: Design and fabricate production prototypes for USN submarine installation.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Harbor surveillance for homeland security and law enforcement surveillance are possible commercial applications of such devices.

REFERENCES:
1. A.I. Iverson, "Algorithms for Multispectral and Hyperspectral Imagery", SPIE, Vol. 2331 (1994)

2. X. Yu, I.S. Reed, and A.D. Stocker, "Comparative Performance Analysis of Adaptive Multispectral Detectors", IEEE Trans on Sig. Proc., Vol. 41, No 8, 1993

3. D.T. Kuo, A.S. Loc, T.D. Lody, and S.W.K. Yuan, "Cryocooler Life Estimation and Its Correlation with Experimental Data."

4. Schowengerdt, Robert, "Remote sensing - Models and Methods for Image Processing", 3rd ed., AP 2006

5. Frederick G. Smith, Editor, "The Infrared and Electro-Optical Handbook"

KEYWORDS: Hyperspectral Imaging; Spectral Signatures; Electro-optic Sensors; Detection; Recognition , Near-infrared/Shortwave-infrared.

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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