Information management and target detection for multisensor airborne platforms

Future military helicopters will be provided with multiple information sources for self-protection and reconnaissance, e.g. imaging IR, laser radar and GPS. In addition, knowledge bases like maps, aerial images, geographical information (GIS) and other previously acquired data can be used for the interpretation of the current scenario. To support the mission, results of data fusion and information management have to be presented to the pilot in an appropriate way. This paper describes concepts and results of our work on IR and laser data fusion for airborne systems. Data is gathered by forward-looking sensors mounted in a helicopter. For further improvement, fusion with collateral information (laser elevation data, aerial images) is used for change detection and definition of regions of interest with respect to the stored and continuously updated database. Results are demonstrated by the analysis of an exemplary data set, showing a scenario with a group of vehicles. Two moving vehicles are detected automatically in both channels (IR, laser) and the results are combined to achieve improved visualization for the pilot.