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Imaging seeker surrogate for IRCM evaluation
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2006
Year
MissileEngineeringAdvanced ImagingSpace OpticCalibrationSystems EngineeringInfrared OpticComputational ImagingSurrogate SeekersInstrumentationRadiologyHealth SciencesMedical ImagingAutomatic Target RecognitionAircraft NavigationComputer EngineeringSeeker TechnologySeeker SurrogateTracking SoftwareRadarAerospace EngineeringInfrared SensorBiomedical ImagingImagingPredecessor GroupsBomb Damage Assessment
NATO‑SCI‑139 and its predecessors have over a decade of experience evaluating EO/IR countermeasures, and surrogate seekers—flexible, open‑design, unclassified systems—are valuable tools for testing high‑intensity countermeasures with realistic seeker optics. The paper provides a technical description of the Imaging Seeker Surrogate (ISS) for IRCM evaluation. The ISS combines an optical design, detector, and tracking software, and is built for use in both laboratory and field environments. Experimental results demonstrating the ISS’s performance will be presented.
NATO-SCI-139 and its predecessor groups have more than a decade of history in the evaluation and recommendation of EO and IR Countermeasures against anti-aircraft missiles. Surrogate Seekers have proven to be a valuable tool for this work. The use of surrogate seekers in international co-operations has several advantages over the use of an operational seeker, which is in service or in development: 1) the system is flexible, allowing both hardware and software modifications to be made in order to test the effectiveness of specific IRCM techniques; 2) the seeker design is open - every last parameter is available to the science team, allowing detailed, end-to-end validation of software models and simulations; 3) the availability of an unclassified seeker facilitates open discussions on CM issues between the participants in the NATO-group. Testing of high intensity countermeasures (for example based on lasers) needs a system with realistic seeker optics, with proper representation of optical scatter in seeker optics, which differs from scatter in commercial infrared camera optics. A technical description of the ISS is given: an overview of the optical design and the detector, the principle of the tracking software and the possibilities to implement alternative tracking algorithms in order to represent different threat CCM techniques. The ISS is built for use both in the laboratory and in the field. Finally, some experimental results will be presented.