A ground-based air surveillance system will be outlined which uses bispectral passive search sensors combined with a high- resolution IR sensor and a laser rangefinder to verify potential alarms and establish target tracks. To achieve highly frequent sampling of the hemispherical field of regard, multiple optical channels are multiplexed with high speed at high-frame rate focal plane arrays. Newly developed micromechanical mirror arrays provide high-speed switching of these optical channels. Image processing algorithms sort out possible target events from clutter in real time. Candidates of potential threat are verified in a second acquisition step using the narrow field of view IR sensor and a laser rangefinder. Thus, high-resolution IR features and three- dimensional range information can be fused with the 2- dimensional search sensor output to distinguish false alarms from real target threats. The paper will focus on the description of the sensor suite. The main system requirements of this new surveillance system will be addressed and the design of an experimental system to demonstrate the performance of its new technology items will be outlined.
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