Extending the tactical horizon networking aircraft to enable persistent surveillance and target development for SOF

The NPS Tactical Horizon Extension Project objective is to define and demonstrate a concept by which task force-level commanders and below can obtain a persistent, over-the-horizon surveillance capability for the purpose of target development and other missions without tasking national or theater-level assets. Our goal is to increase the ISR capacity of units who normally would not rate the priority to task a Predator, Global Hawk, or U-2. There are two guiding tenets in developing this concept. First, the equipment and its control should be organic to the SOF unit or task force. Second, utilizing this capability should not require the soldier to carry any additional equipment into the field. Initial research led us to the idea of using networked unmanned aerial systems (UAS's) to generate an over-the-horizon surveillance capability for SOF. We demonstrated the concept by forming a network comprised of a forward ground team, an inexpensive, test-bed UAS equipped with an off-the-shelf video camera, a manned aircraft, and a tactical operations center (TOC). We attained connectivity through an ITT Mesh structure at 2.4 GHz, amplified to 1W. Researchers were from the Defense Analysis, Mechanical and Astronautical Engineering, and Information Sciences Departments. We conducted successful experiments through the USSOCOM-NPS Cooperative Field Experimentation Program.http://archive.org/details/extendingtactica109452582Outstanding ThesisApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Tier-scalable reconnaissance: the challenge of sensor optimization, sensor deployment, sensor fusion, and sensor interoperability

Robotic reconnaissance operations are called for in extreme environments, not only those such as space, including planetary atmospheres, surfaces, and subsurfaces, but also in potentially hazardous or inaccessible operational areas on Earth, such as mine fields, battlefield environments, enemy occupied territories, terrorist infiltrated environments, or areas that have been exposed to biochemical agents or radiation. Real time reconnaissance enables the identification and characterization of transient events. A fundamentally new mission concept for tier-scalable reconnaissance of operational areas, originated by Fink et al., is aimed at replacing the engineering and safety constrained mission designs of the past. The tier-scalable paradigm integrates multi-tier (orbit atmosphere surface/subsurface) and multi-agent (satellite UAV/blimp surface/subsurface sensing platforms) hierarchical mission architectures, introducing not only mission redundancy and safety, but also enabling and optimizing intelligent, less constrained, and distributed reconnaissance in real time. Given the mass, size, and power constraints faced by such a multi-platform approach, this is an ideal application scenario for a diverse set of MEMS sensors. To support such mission architectures, a high degree of operational autonomy is required. Essential elements of such operational autonomy are: (1) automatic mapping of an operational area from different vantage points (including vehicle health monitoring); (2) automatic feature extraction and target/region-of-interest identification within the mapped operational area; and (3) automatic target prioritization for close-up examination. These requirements imply the optimal deployment of MEMS sensors and sensor platforms, sensor fusion, and sensor interoperability

Tracking mobile targets through Wireless Sensor Networks

In recent years, advances in signal processing have led to small, low power, inexpensive Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The signal processing in WSN is different from the traditional wireless networks in two critical aspects: firstly, the signal processing in WSN is performed in a fully distributed manner, unlike in traditional wireless networks; secondly, due to the limited computation capabilities of sensor networks, it is essential to develop an energy and bandwidth efficient signal processing algorithms. Target localisation and tracking problems in WSNs have received considerable attention recently, driven by the necessity to achieve higher localisation accuracy, lower cost, and the smallest form factor. Received Signal Strength (RSS) based localisation techniques are at the forefront of tracking research applications. Since tracking algorithms have been attracting research and development attention recently, prolific literature and a wide range of proposed approaches regarding the topic have emerged. This thesis is devoted to discussing the existing WSN-based localisation and tracking approaches. This thesis includes five studies. The first study leads to the design and implementation of a triangulation-based localisation approach using RSS technique for indoor tracking applications. The presented work achieves low localisation error in complex environments by predicting the environmental characteristics among beacon nodes. The second study concentrates on investigating a fingerprinting localisation method for indoor tracking applications. The proposed approach offers reasonable localisation accuracy while requiring a short period of offline computation time. The third study focuses on designing and implementing a decentralised tracking approach for tracking multiple mobile targets with low resource requirements. Despite the interest in target tracking and localisation issues, there are few systems deployed using ZigBee network standard, and no tracking system has used the full features of the ZigBee network standard. Tracking through the ZigBee is a challenging task when the density of router and end-device nodes is low, due to the limited communication capabilities of end-device nodes. The fourth study focuses on developing and designing a practical ZigBee-based tracking approach. To save energy, different strategies were adopted. The fifth study outlines designing and implementing an energy-efficient approach for tracking applications. This study consists of two main approaches: a data aggregation approach, proposed and implemented in order to reduce the total number of messages transmitted over the network; and a prediction approach, deployed to increase the lifetime of the WSN. For evaluation purposes, two environmental models were used in this thesis: firstly, real experiments, in which the proposed approaches were implemented on real sensor nodes, to test the validity for the proposed approaches; secondly, simulation experiments, in which NS-2 was used to evaluate the power-consumption issues of the two approaches proposed in this thesis

Employing Environmental Data and Machine Learning to Improve Mobile Health Receptivity

Behavioral intervention strategies can be enhanced by recognizing human activities using eHealth technologies. As we find after a thorough literature review, activity spotting and added insights may be used to detect daily routines inferring receptivity for mobile notifications similar to just-in-time support. Towards this end, this work develops a model, using machine learning, to analyze the motivation of digital mental health users that answer self-assessment questions in their everyday lives through an intelligent mobile application. A uniform and extensible sequence prediction model combining environmental data with everyday activities has been created and validated for proof of concept through an experiment. We find that the reported receptivity is not sequentially predictable on its own, the mean error and standard deviation are only slightly below by-chance comparison. Nevertheless, predicting the upcoming activity shows to cover about 39% of the day (up to 58% in the best case) and can be linked to user individual intervention preferences to indirectly find an opportune moment of receptivity. Therefore, we introduce an application comprising the influences of sensor data on activities and intervention thresholds, as well as allowing for preferred events on a weekly basis. As a result of combining those multiple approaches, promising avenues for innovative behavioral assessments are possible. Identifying and segmenting the appropriate set of activities is key. Consequently, deliberate and thoughtful design lays the foundation for further development within research projects by extending the activity weighting process or introducing a model reinforcement.BMBF, 13GW0157A, Verbundprojekt: Self-administered Psycho-TherApy-SystemS (SELFPASS) - Teilvorhaben: Data Analytics and Prescription for SELFPASSTU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 201

Edge Artificial Intelligence for Real-Time Target Monitoring

The key enabling technology for the exponentially growing cellular communications sector is location-based services. The need for location-aware services has increased along with the number of wireless and mobile devices. Estimation problems, and particularly parameter estimation, have drawn a lot of interest because of its relevance and engineers' ongoing need for higher performance. As applications expanded, a lot of interest was generated in the accurate assessment of temporal and spatial properties. In the thesis, two different approaches to subject monitoring are thoroughly addressed. For military applications, medical tracking, industrial workers, and providing location-based services to the mobile user community, which is always growing, this kind of activity is crucial. In-depth consideration is given to the viability of applying the Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Receiver Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) localization algorithms in real-world situations. We presented two prospective systems, discussed them, and presented specific assessments and tests. These systems were put to the test in diverse contexts (e.g., indoor, outdoor, in water...). The findings showed the localization capability, but because of the low-cost antenna we employed, this method is only practical up to a distance of roughly 150 meters. Consequently, depending on the use-case, this method may or may not be advantageous. An estimation algorithm that enhances the performance of the AoA technique was implemented on an edge device. Another approach was also considered. Radar sensors have shown to be durable in inclement weather and bad lighting conditions. Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars are the most frequently employed among the several sorts of radar technologies for these kinds of applications. Actually, this is because they are low-cost and can simultaneously provide range and Doppler data. In comparison to pulse and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radar sensors, they also need a lower sample rate and a lower peak to average ratio. The system employs a cutting-edge surveillance method based on widely available FMCW radar technology. The data processing approach is built on an ad hoc-chain of different blocks that transforms data, extract features, and make a classification decision before cancelling clutters and leakage using a frame subtraction technique, applying DL algorithms to Range-Doppler (RD) maps, and adding a peak to cluster assignment step before tracking targets. In conclusion, the FMCW radar and DL technique for the RD maps performed well together for indoor use-cases. The aforementioned tests used an edge device and Infineon Technologies' Position2Go FMCW radar tool-set

POINTING, ACQUISITION, AND TRACKING FOR DIRECTIONAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Directional wireless communications networks (DWNs) are expected to become a workhorse of the military, as they provide great network capacity in hostile areas where omnidirectional RF systems can put their users in harm's way. These networks will also be able to adapt to new missions, change topologies, use different communications technologies, yet still reliably serve all their terminal users. DWNs also have the potential to greatly expand the capacity of civilian and commercial wireless communication. The inherently narrow beams present in these types of systems require a means of steering them, acquiring the links, and tracking to maintain connectivity. This area of technological challenges encompasses all the issues of pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT). iii The two main technologies for DWNs are Free-Space Optical (FSO) and millimeter wave RF (mmW). FSO offers tremendous bandwidths, long ranges, and uses existing fiber-based technologies. However, it suffers from severe turbulence effects when passing through long (>kms) atmospheric paths, and can be severely affected by obscuration. MmW systems do not suffer from atmospheric effects nearly as much, use much more sensitive coherent receivers, and have wider beam divergences allowing for easier pointing. They do, however, suffer from a lack of available small-sized power amplifiers, complicated RF infrastructure that must be steered with a platform, and the requirement that all acquisition and tracking be done with the data beam, as opposed to FSO which uses a beacon laser for acquisition and a fast steering mirror for tracking. This thesis analyzes the many considerations required for designing and implementing a FSO PAT system, and extends this work to the rapidly expanding area of mmW DWN systems. Different types of beam acquisition methods are simulated and tested, and the tradeoffs between various design specifications are analyzed and simulated to give insight into how to best implement a transceiver platform. An experimental test-bed of six FSO platforms is also designed and constructed to test some of these concepts, along with the implementation of a three-node biconnected network. Finally, experiments have been conducted to assess the performance of fixed infrastructure routing hardware when operating with a physically reconfigurable RF network

C-Band Airport Surface Communications System Standards Development. Phase II Final Report. Volume 2: Test Bed Performance Evaluation and Final AeroMACS Recommendations

This report is provided as part of ITT s NASA Glenn Research Center Aerospace Communication Systems Technical Support (ACSTS) contract NNC05CA85C, Task 7: New ATM Requirements-Future Communications, C-Band and L-Band Communications Standard Development and was based on direction provided by FAA project-level agreements for New ATM Requirements-Future Communications. Task 7 included two subtasks. Subtask 7-1 addressed C-band (5091- to 5150-MHz) airport surface data communications standards development, systems engineering, test bed and prototype development, and tests and demonstrations to establish operational capability for the Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS). Subtask 7-2 focused on systems engineering and development support of the L-band digital aeronautical communications system (L-DACS). Subtask 7-1 consisted of two phases. Phase I included development of AeroMACS concepts of use, requirements, architecture, and initial high-level safety risk assessment. Phase II builds on Phase I results and is presented in two volumes. Volume I is devoted to concepts of use, system requirements, and architecture, including AeroMACS design considerations. Volume II (this document) describes an AeroMACS prototype evaluation and presents final AeroMACS recommendations. This report also describes airport categorization and channelization methodologies. The purposes of the airport categorization task were (1) to facilitate initial AeroMACS architecture designs and enable budgetary projections by creating a set of airport categories based on common airport characteristics and design objectives, and (2) to offer high-level guidance to potential AeroMACS technology and policy development sponsors and service providers. A channelization plan methodology was developed because a common global methodology is needed to assure seamless interoperability among diverse AeroMACS services potentially supplied by multiple service providers

Transport Infrastructure Surveillance and Monitoring by Electromagnetic Sensing: The ISTIMES Project

The ISTIMES project, funded by the European Commission in the frame of a joint Call “ICT and Security” of the Seventh Framework Programme, is presented and preliminary research results are discussed. The main objective of the ISTIMES project is to design, assess and promote an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based system, exploiting distributed and local sensors, for non-destructive electromagnetic monitoring of critical transport infrastructures. The integration of electromagnetic technologies with new ICT information and telecommunications systems enables remotely controlled monitoring and surveillance and real time data imaging of the critical transport infrastructures. The project exploits different non-invasive imaging technologies based on electromagnetic sensing (optic fiber sensors, Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite platform based, hyperspectral spectroscopy, Infrared thermography, Ground Penetrating Radar-, low-frequency geophysical techniques, Ground based systems for displacement monitoring). In this paper, we show the preliminary results arising from the GPR and infrared thermographic measurements carried out on the Musmeci bridge in Potenza, located in a highly seismic area of the Apennine chain (Southern Italy) and representing one of the test beds of the project

Continued study of NAVSTAR/GPS for general aviation

A conceptual approach for examining the full potential of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for the general aviation community is presented. Aspects of an experimental program to demonstrate these concepts are discussed. The report concludes with the observation that the true potential of GPS can only be exploited by utilization in concert with a data link. The capability afforded by the combination of position location and reporting stimulates the concept of GPS providing the auxiliary functions of collision avoidance, and approach and landing guidance. A series of general recommendations for future NASA and civil community efforts in order to continue to support GPS for general aviation are included

Surveillance and Protection-Based Approach for Link Failures over Fiber-to the-Home (FTTH) with Combination of ACS and SANTAD

This paper introduces an in-service transmission surveillance and protection-based approach for fiber failures/faults over fiber-to-the-home passive optical network (FTTH-PON) with an excellent combination of Access Control System (ACS) and Smart Access Network Testing, Analyzing and Database (SANTAD). Our hardware design works on a standard local area network (LAN) using a specially designed hardware interfaced with a microcontroller integrated Ethernet to monitor the status of optical signals flow and provide the restoration against fiber failures/faults in FTTH-PON. We also introduce the centralized management and access control program by means of SANTAD. ACS is used to control the troubleshooting mechanism carried out by SANTAD. This design will be implemented at central office (CO) for distant monitoring and remote controlling each optical fiber line's status as well as for detecting any failures/faults that occurs in the network system downwardly from CO towards multiple optical network units (ONUs). The scope of this discussion only highlighted on the monitoring and controlling instead of the restoration scheme