Control And Display Stations For Simultaneous Multiple Dissimilar Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The NRL Optical Sciences Division has developed and demonstrated ground and airborne-based control, display, and exploitation stations for simultaneous use of multiple dissimilar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems. The demonstrated systems allow operation on airborne and ground mobile platforms and allow for the control and exploitation of multiple on-board airborne and/or remote unmanned sensor systems simultaneously. The sensor systems incorporated into the control and display stations include visible and midwave infrared (EO/MWIR) panchromatic and visible through short wave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) hyperspectral (HSI) sensors of various operational types (including step-stare, push-broom, whisk-broom, and video). Demonstrated exploitation capabilities include real-time screening, sensor control, pre-flight and real-time payload/platform mission planning, geo-referenced imagery mosaicing, change detection, stereo imaginger, moving target tracking, and networked dissemination to distributed exploitation nodes (man-pack, vehicle, and command centers). Results from real-time flight tests using ATR, Finder, and TERN UAV ' s are described.