Methods and systems for threat engagement management

• US 8,563,908 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Lew, Carissa E., Chan, Moses W., Monney, Paul-Andre, Romberg, Paul M., Laux, Leo J.
• Primary Examiner(s): GREGORY, BERNARR E
• Application Number:
  US12/340,495
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• Field of Search: 89/11.1, 89/11, 244/3.1, 244 311- 319, 342/13, 342/14, 342/16, 342/20, 342/59, 342/89, 342/90, 342/175, 342/195, 342 52- 55, 342/73, 342/94, 342/95, 342 74- 81, 705/1.1, 702/127, 702/150, 702/152
• US Class Current: 244/3.1
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/04 for dispersing fire from a battery ; for controlling spread of shots; for coordinating fire from spaced weapons
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 9/00 Systems for controlling missiles or projectiles, not provided for elsewhere
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/253 of extracted features

Abstract

Sensor(s) may be used to detect threat data. A processing system and/or a method may be used to fuse the detected threat data over time. Threat data may comprise information on a munition, missile, rocket, or nuclear/biological/chemical (NBC) projectile or delivery system. Detected threat data may be processed to create a target track-lethality list comprising the locations of any target(s) and a ranking of their lethality in comparison to decoys or chaff. The target track-lethality list may be used to create a target engagement-track list that matches available threat elimination resources (e.g. interceptors) to targets with a weapon-to-target assignment module.

Claims

1. A method for target engagement management, comprising:

acquiring, via a processor-based system, threat data at different points in time from an area of interest with multiple sensors;

correlating the threat data from the multiple sensors;

aggregating the correlated threat data based on at least two data points of the correlated threat data acquired at different points in time;

creating a target track-lethality list from the aggregated threat data; and

creating a target engagement track list based at least in part on the target track-lethality list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the target engagement track list to a weapon-to-target assignment module;

comparing the target engagement track list to assignable threat management resources, the threat management resources referencing at least one interceptor; and

assigning an interceptor to engage at least one target on the target engagement track list.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

monitoring the interceptor'"'"'s health and status; and

dispensing the interceptor to engage the at least one target.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregating the correlated threat data comprises processing the correlated threat data with at least one of a feature fusion module and a lethality fusion module.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlated threat data comprises at least one of a correlated threat object map, and a correlated set of feature data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregating the correlated threat data comprises processing the correlated threat data with at least one of the following:

a matrix multiplication technique, a least squares technique, and a regression technique.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting feature data from the threat data.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium encoded with instructions for target engagement management, the instructions executable by one or more processors to facilitate performing a method, the method comprising:

acquiring threat data at different points in time from an area of interest with multiple sensors;

correlating the threat data from the multiple sensors;

aggregating the correlated threat data based on at least two data points of the correlated threat data obtained at different points in time;

creating a target track-lethality list from the aggregated threat data; and

creating a target engagement track list based at least in part on the target track-lethality list.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

providing the target engagement track list to a weapon-to-target assignment module;

comparing the target engagement track list to assignable threat management resources, the threat management resources referencing at least one interceptor; and

assigning an interceptor to engage at least one target on the target engagement track list.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

monitoring the interceptor'"'"'s health and status; and

dispensing the interceptor to engage the at least one target.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the aggregating the correlated threat data comprises processing the correlated threat data with at least one of a feature fusion module and a lethality fusion module.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the correlated threat data comprises at least one of a correlated threat object map, and a correlated set of feature data.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the aggregating the correlated threat data comprises code for processing the correlated threat data with at least one of the following:

a matrix multiplication technique, a least squares technique, and a regression technique.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises extracting feature data from the threat data.

15. A processing system for target engagement management, comprising:

a threat data acquisition module configured to acquire threat data at different points in time from an area of interest with multiple sensors;

a correlator configured to correlate the threat data from the multiple sensors;

an aggregation module configured to aggregate the correlated threat data based on at least two data points of the correlated threat data obtained at different points in time; and

a controller configured to create a target track-lethality list from the aggregated threat data, and to create a target engagement track list based at least in part on the target track-lethality list.

16. The processing system of claim 15, further comprising:

a weapon-to-target assignment module configured to receive the target engagement track list, to compare the target engagement track list to assignable threat management resources, the threat management resources referencing at least one interceptor; and

to assign an interceptor to engage at least one target on the target engagement track list.

17. The processing system of claim 16, wherein the weapon-to-target assignment module is configured to monitor the interceptor'"'"'s health and status, and to dispense the interceptor to engage the at least one target.

18. The processing system of claim 15, wherein the aggregation module comprises at least one of a feature fusion module and a lethality fusion module.

19. The processing system of claim 15, wherein the correlated threat data comprises at least one of a correlated threat object map, and a correlated set of feature data.

20. The processing system of claim 15, wherein the aggregation module is configured to process the correlated threat data with at least one of the following:

a matrix multiplication technique, a least squares technique, and a regression technique.

21. The processing system of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to extract feature data from the threat data.

22. A computer system for target engagement management comprising:

a processing system, the processor system comprising;

a threat data acquisition module configured to acquire threat data at different points in time from an area of interest with multiple sensors;

a correlator configured to correlate the threat data from the multiple sensors;

an aggregation module configured to aggregate the correlated threat data based on at least two data points of the correlated threat data obtained at different points in time; and

a controller configured to create a target track-lethality list from the aggregated threat data, and to create a target engagement track list based at least in part on the target track-lethality list;

a display;

a keyboard;

an interface;

a bus; and

a machine-readable medium.