Abstract: A system and method for suppressing aperture noise resulting from clock jitter associated with a Nyquist analog-to-digital converter (ADC) using self-referred time measurements are provided. The system comprises of a clock, a delay element, a time subtractor, a time-to-digital converter, a filter element, a first digital subtractor, an integrator, a differentiator, and a multiplier. Each of the delay element, time subtractor, time-to-digital converter, filter element, first digital subtractor, integrator, and multiplier is electrically connected in parallel with the ADC, which allows the clock to generate a clock signal that advances into the system and the ADC in order to isolate and suppress the noise aperture associated with the ADC. As such, the architecture of the system is configured to isolate and suppress aperture noise resulting from clock jitter associated with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to allow the output signal of the system be independent of the aperture noise.

Abstract: An integrated architecture and its associated sensors and processing software subsystems are defined and developed allowing a conventional unguided bullet to be transformed into a guided bullet without the use of an on-board inertial measurement unit (IMU). Some important SW components of the present disclosure include a target state estimator (TSE); a bullet state estimator (BSE); Multi-Object Tracking and Data Association; NTS GL; and a Data Link. Pre-conversion of two angles and range information of an OI sensor from spherical coordinates into Cartesian coordinates eliminates the Jacobian dependency in the H matrix for the BSE, thus increasing the miss distance performance accuracy of the bullet target engagement system.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing information sharing with enhanced security. In an embodiment, a secure information sharing engine provides secure sharing of data by applying one or more validation rules to the data. When applied to a given portion of the data, the validation rule verifies that the data of the given portion is, in fact, the data that is supposed to be in the given portion. At least one of the validation rules includes a check that a portion of the data contained in multiple fields maintain a relationship between the multiple fields. If the data passes the applied one or more validation rules, the secure information sharing engine allows the sharing of the data. Otherwise, if the data does not pass the one or more applied validation rules, the secure information sharing engine disallows the sharing of the data.

Abstract: A system for finding up in a projectile flight relative to earth. The system having a transmitter which transmits polarized reference signals to a guidance sub-system on the projectile. The guidance sub-system includes a magnetometer and polarized and non-polarized receivers. Measurements from the magnetometer are used to determine a general up direction. The polarized and non-polarized receivers are arranged such that, during rotation of the projectile, reference signals received by the polarized receiver modulate whereas reference signals received by the non-polarized receivers are unaffected. A ratio of the strengths of the signals received by the polarized and non-polarized receivers determines alignment of a vertical axis. From the general up direction and alignment of the vertical axis, a precise up direction of the projectile in flight relative to the earth can be determined.

Abstract: A countermeasure dispenser system has a dispenser with a fire pin and a smart expendable housed in the dispenser awaiting to be fired upon a fire command. The smart expendable has features that need power and communication signals from the dispenser. The communication signals and power sent from the dispenser to the smart expendable are sent through an interface that is different than the fire pin in the dispenser. The interface may be a dedicated wired interface or the interface may be a wireless interface. If wireless, the wireless interface may use near field communications, RF signaling, or near field magnetic induction.

Abstract: The system and method for accurately determining range-to-go for the command detonation of a projectile. Using dual laser and/or radio frequency detectors on the tail and on the nose of a spinning projectile to determine the range-to-go, time-to-go, or lateral offset from the projectile to the target.

Abstract: The system and method of projectile flight management using a combination of radio frequency orthogonal interferometry for the long range navigation and guidance of one or more projectiles and a short range navigation and guidance system to provide for more accurate targeting, especially in GPS-denied and GPS-limited environments.

Abstract: The system and method of producing a first path comprising a pulse stretcher for a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) signal, an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) amplifier, and a MWIR compressor for producing a first beam in a MWIR portion of the spectrum and a second path comprising a pulse stretcher for a long wave infrared (LWIR) signal, an OPCPA amplifier, and a LWIR compressor for producing a second beam in a LWIR portion of the spectrum. Each beam, on its own, is configured to produce laser-matter interactions at long range (100s of meters), having nonlinear effects and favoring supercontinuum generation spanning multiple octaves, that is temporally and spatially overlapped with the fundamental laser beam.

Abstract: The system and method for EO/IR and RF sensor fusion and tracking using a dual extended Kalman filter (EKF) system provides a dynamic mixing scheme leveraging the strength of each individual sensor to adaptively combine both sensors' measurements and dynamically mix them based on the actual relative geometries between the sensors and objects of interest. In some cases the objects are adversarial targets and other times they are assets.

Abstract: An object detection system comprises a polarizer configured to polarize an incoming image scene, a motor controller configured to control a spin rate of the polarizer, a lens configured to collect scene data from the polarized image scene, a first integrated circuit configured to measure the collected scene data at two different and orthogonal polarizations, a second integrated circuit configured to determine a degree of polarization (DoP) and an angle of polarization (AoP) for each image frame pair and to generate pre-processed data, and a processor configured to match the pre-processed data to target criteria. The first integrated circuit can be a DROIC imager and the second integrated circuit can be a FPGA. The AoP and DoP can be determined at a pixel level. The second integrated circuit is configured to apply spatial filtering having a DoP greater than 70% or where AoP is unique to immediate surroundings of AoP.

Abstract: Systems and methods for three-dimensional (3D) shape estimation of objects embedded in light-scattering media via polarimetry are provided. The systems and methods utilize polarization to exploit forward scattering in the light-scattering medium to mitigate backscatter interference (BSI).

Abstract: Techniques are provided for emitter geolocation. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes measuring phase differences between radar signals received at one or more pairs of antennas. The method also includes calculating hypothesized phase differences based on ray tracings from hypothesized emitter locations at a first set of grid points, to the antennas. The method further includes generating scores based on correlations between the measured phase differences and the hypothesized phase differences. The method further includes generating an error ellipse based on candidate grid points associated with scores that are above a threshold. The process may be repeated on a second set of grid points, bounded by the error ellipse, to generate a second set of scores. The grid point, from the second set of grid points, that is associated with the highest of the second set of scores is selected as the estimated emitter geolocation.

Abstract: Systems and methods for three-dimensional (3D) shape estimation of objects embedded in light-scattering media via polarimetry are provided. The systems and methods utilize polarization to exploit forward scattering in the light-scattering medium to mitigate backscatter interference (BSI).

Abstract: A soft-kill countermeasure system utilizing a tracking radar to enhance existing countermeasures and enable new countermeasures to be utilized to combat the ever evolving and increasing sophistication of threats. The use of the tracking radar may further allow for immediate threat defeat confirmation which may allow for rapid or immediate redirection of the countermeasure system to address additional simultaneous threats.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for partial band signal reconstruction. A partial band signal reconstruction circuit includes a zero generator, an analysis filter, and a synthesis filter. The zero generator is configured to generate a zero-value channel (i.e., a signal of all zeros). The analysis filter is configured to convert a wideband time-domain signal into K narrow-band channels, and to select at least R of the K frequency-domain subchannels for synthesis. The synthesis filter is configured to receive the at least R subchannels from the analysis filter and the zero or more zero-value channels from the zero generator and convert the at least R subchannels and the zero-value channels (a total of P channels) into a time-domain signal. The values of K and P are related by a constraint that constrains one or more parameters of the analysis filter and the synthesis filter.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for determination of a guided-munition orientation during flight based on lateral acceleration, velocity, and turn rate of the guided-munition. A methodology implementing the techniques, according to an embodiment, includes obtaining a lateral acceleration vector measurement and a velocity of the guided-munition, and calculating a ratio of the two, to generate an estimated lateral turn vector of the guided-munition. The method also includes integrating the estimated lateral turn vector, over a period of time associated with flight of the guided-munition, to generate a first type of predicted attitude change. The method further includes obtaining and integrating a lateral turn rate vector measurement of the guided-munition, over the period of time associated with flight of the guided-munition, to generate a second type of predicted attitude change.

Abstract: Techniques and architecture are disclosed for allowing the provenance of an integrated circuit to be verified using a dielet in wireless communication with a die through a near-field communications protocol where the positions of the dielet and die are fixed relative to one another during manufacturing such that their respective means for wirelessly communicating with one another are aligned.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for emitter geolocation. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes measuring phase differences between radar signals received at one or more pairs of antennas. The method also includes calculating hypothesized phase differences based on ray tracings from hypothesized emitter locations at a first set of grid points, to the antennas. The method further includes generating scores based on correlations between the measured phase differences and the hypothesized phase differences. The method further includes generating an error ellipse based on candidate grid points associated with scores that are above a threshold. The process may be repeated on a second set of grid points, bounded by the error ellipse, to generate a second set of scores. The grid point, from the second set of grid points, that is associated with the highest of the second set of scores is selected as the estimated emitter geolocation.

Abstract: An angle only (AO) target state estimation (TSE) system and method using a mixed coordinate system (Modified Spherical Coordinate (MSC) and Reference Cartesian Coordinate (RCC)) as an integrated system. This integrated system is achieved due to the state vector information of two frames (RCC and MSC) is effectively preserved between processing cycles and state vector transformation steps. The AO TSE architecture and processing schemes are applicable to a wide class of passive sensors. The mixed coordinate system provides robust real-time slant range estimation in a bootstrap fashion, thus turning passive AO measurements into equivalent active sensor measurements with built-in recursive range information but with greatly improved the TSE accuracy meeting the miss distance required by many engagement missions.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for tracking of signals. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes filtering a first segment of an input signal, associated with a first time interval, into a first plurality of frequency bins. The method also includes detecting a signal of interest (SOI) in one of the first plurality of frequency bins. The method further includes filtering a second segment of the input signal, associated with a second time interval, into a second plurality of frequency bins. The method further includes determining movement of the SOI from a first frequency bin, of the first plurality of frequency bins, to a second frequency bin, of the second plurality of frequency bins. The method further includes tracking the SOI based on the movement determination. In some cases, the method further includes creating a composite signal based on the tracking over multiple frequency bins and multiple time intervals.