IMSAR LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N201-070

Description

Leveraging IMSAR LLC’s significant experience developing low-Size, Weight, and Power and Cost (SWaP-C) radar systems and radar data processing techniques and Areté’s expertise in classification algorithms, IMSAR and Areté propose to demonstrate all-weather, wide-area search, detection, location, and classification capabilities from a low-SWaP-C radar system and to develop a plan to integrate these capabilities for autonomous mission operations. The specific radar modes to be employed include Maritime Moving Target Indication (MMTI), Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR), and High Range Resolution (HRR) data. In order to support the Navy’s maritime mission area #3 identified in the solicitation, IMSAR and Areté propose to combine high-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) radar systems and classification algorithms to provide a sensor and autonomy solution able to conduct all-weather search, location, and identification of surface ships and transmit the information back to a remote operator. The proposed system will be able to integrate onto a Government-selected Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and autonomously search an area based on an approximate location, automatically detect vessels within the area of interest using MMTI, autonomously switch modes to perform ISAR and HRR of detected targets, automatically classify the targets using advanced classification algorithms, and transmit the location and identification data back to a remote operator.