Sensor Data Association for the Seawolf Mid-Life Update (SWMLU) Programme

摘要

The Seawolf Mid-Life Update (SWMLU) programme is a major upgrade of the UK Royal Navy's principal point defence weapon system. The addition of an Electro-Optic sensor to the pre-existing 'I' and 'K' band radars presents a significant engineering challenge. The processing of the data from the 3 sensors into a fused picture such that a coherent view of which objects represent targets and own missiles is a key element of the overall system design and is critical to achieving the required system performance. Without this coherent view of the detected objects incorrect guidance commands will be issued to the Seawolf missiles resulting in a failure to successfully intercept the target. This paper reviews the sensor data association problem as it relates to the SWMLU system and outlines identified solution strategies. The SWMLU sensors provide complementary data that can be exploited through data association to maximise tracking accuracy as well as maintaining performance under sensor lost-lock conditions. The sensor data association approach utilises radar and EO properties from spatial and temporal domains. These characteristics are discussed in terms of their contribution to the SWMLU data association problem where it will be shown that the use of object attributes from the EO sensor and their behaviour over time is a critical performance factor.