초록 ▼

A dynamic optimal sensor employment system and method is used for searching an area. Each time the sensor in the search vehicle is activated, the dynamic optimal sensor employment system ("the system") determines which areas were searched at that moment. It does this by using a terrain database, inf

A dynamic optimal sensor employment system and method is used for searching an area. Each time the sensor in the search vehicle is activated, the dynamic optimal sensor employment system ("the system") determines which areas were searched at that moment. It does this by using a terrain database, information about the sensor state when it scanned (azimuth, elevation, mode, etc.), and a line-of-sight algorithm. The system determines this instantaneous coverage not only for the primary search vehicle, designated "ownership", but also for other teammates who report scan information to ownship via digital messages. The system maintains a dynamic history of all areas (e.g. 30 meter by 30 meter square "cells" of ground) that have been searched. Each cell has a counter that indicates how many time it has been scanned, and each time cells are scanned with ownship or team sensors the counter is incremented. Cells that are too steep or otherwise non-trafficable by a land vehicle, such as a lake or a river, are marked ahead of time to indicate there is no need to search them. The system then dynamically determines what sensor activations are required to search the areas that are known to be trafficable but have not yet been scanned by ownship or teammates. Specifically, it determines the time, location, direction, field-of-view, and altitude that best satisfy an optimization criteria, and then automatically activates the sensor to generate this coverage.

대표청구항 ▼

[What is claimed is:] [13.]a first sensor located on the moving platform;a coverage history array where each cell in said array represents a section of the search area;a trafficability database having data to be used in initializing said coverage history array;an elevation database having elevation

[What is claimed is:] [13.]a first sensor located on the moving platform;a coverage history array where each cell in said array represents a section of the search area;a trafficability database having data to be used in initializing said coverage history array;an elevation database having elevation data for the search area;means for optimizing a scan by said first sensor in response to sensor location in the search area, said coverage history array, and said elevation data; andmeans for updating said coverage history array with information from those cells searched in response to said scan by said first sensor.