This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9248, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

The fundamental sensitivity limit of an appropriately scaled down mechanical resonator can approach one atomic mass unit when only thermal noise is present in the system. However, operation of such nanoscale mechanical resonators is very challenging due to minuteness of their oscillation amplitudes and presence of multiple noise sources in real experimental environments. In order to surmount these challenges, we use microscale cantilever resonators driven to large amplitudes, far beyond their nonlinear instability onset. Our experiments show that such a nonlinear cantilever resonator, described analytically as a Duffing oscillator, has mass sensing performance comparable to that of much smaller resonators operating in a linear regime. We demonstrate femtogram level mass sensing that relies on a bifurcation point tracking that does not require any complex readout means. Our approaches enable straightforward detection of mass changes that are near the fundamental limit imposed by thermo-mechanical fluctuations.

A superhydrophobic (SH) surface has many characteristics - of which are its self-cleaning and anti-corrosion functionalities - that are desirable across various industries. A superhydrophobic surface utilizes the right combination of surface chemistry and roughness that force water droplets to form high water contact angles (CA). This in turn allows droplets to easily roll off and pick up dirt and debris across the surface while also preventing water from penetrating the surface. We have developed a simple yet durable spray-on coating based on functionalized SiO₂ nanoparticles that can easily be applied to surfaces including, but not limited to, optical sensors, photovoltaics, sights and lenses, textiles, construction materials, and electronic devices. In addition, these coatings exhibit practical mechanical and environmental durability that allow prolonged use of the coatings in harsh environments.

Revolutionary new fly eye radar sensor technologies based on an array of directional antennas is eliminating the need for a mechanical scanning antenna or complicated phase processor. Proposed sense and avoid radar based on fly eye radar technology can be very small, provides continuous surveillance of entire sky (360 degree by azimuth and elevation) and can be applied for separate or swarm of micro/nano UAS or UGS. Monopulse technology increases bearing accuracy several folds and radar can be multi-functional, multi-frequency. Fly eye micro-radars are inexpensive, can be expendable. Prototype of sense and avoid radar with two directional antennas has been designed and bench tested.

A resonant infrared thermal sensor with high sensitivity, whose sensing element is a bi-material structure with thermal expansion mismatch effect, is presented in this paper. The sensor detects infrared radiation by means of tracking the change in resonance frequency of the bi-material structure with temperature change attributed to the infrared radiation from targets. The bi-material structure can amplify the change in resonance frequency compared to a single material sensing structure. In accordance with the theory of vibration mechanics and design principle of infrared thermal detector, the bi-material resonant sensor by means of which an array can be achieved is designed. The simulation results, by ANSYS software analysis based on multi-layer shell finite element, demonstrate that the dependence of resonance frequency on temperature of the designed sensing structure achieves 1Hz/0.01°C. A microarray with 6×6 resonant infrared sensors is fabricated based on microelectronics processes being compatible with integrated circuit fabrication technology. The frequency variation corresponding to the temperature shift can be obtained by electrical measurement.

In this paper we demonstrate measurement results of the modalmetric fiber optic sensor used for the monitoring of the fiber optic link integrity to protect it against unauthorized access to classified information. The presented construction is based on the detection of changes of the modes distribution in a multimode fiber. Any mechanical stress on the multimode fiber causes changes of polarization and distribution of propagating modes, hence it changes the distribution of modes at the end of the multimode fiber. Observation of these changes using a narrow core single-mode fiber allows to use the structure as an optical fiber sensor. We used several kilometers long optical links to conduct field tests of laboratory sensor. On this basis the prototype module of modalmetric fiber optic sensor wasbuilt. The modification of optoelectronic part, the variation of sensor length and the change of the method of light reflection at the end of the fiber enable the use of the modalmetric fiber optic sensor in many applications. The sensor finds wide range of applications in security systems. It can be applied to protect the museum's collection, transmission lines and to protect objects of critical infrastructure.

Snipers have emerged as a major threat to troops in recent conflicts. To reduce this menace, the objective of the French- German Research Institute of Saint Louis (ISL) research project “IMOTEP” is to improve the detection of snipers on the battlefield. Our basic approach is to combine several sources of information for a fast and appropriate reaction when an unusual signal (e.g. a flash or a shot) is detected. The project includes several technologies developed at ISL: acoustical detection, fusion of distributed sensor network data, active imaging and 3D audio communication. The protection of camps, convoys or dismounted soldiers rests on a distributed acoustical sensor network that detects and localizes sniper attacks. An early estimation of the threat position is transmitted through a network to an active imaging system in order to confirm and refine this position by 3D imaging. The refined position is then sent to the control center which generates an alert message that displays the threat position using two formats: a tactical map and a 3D audio signal. In addition, the camp is protected by an ad-hoc sensor network used for intruder detection.

Research was conducted on groups of unattended vehicles performing some collaborative tasks. Navigation of these vehicles and more specifically, knowing each other's position, is mandatory. In densely built environments, forests, etc., GPS is not always available or accurate. Using information about encounters between the vehicles may significantly improve position information. Detecting encounters can be done very easily with low cost sensors. TNO developed and patented an innovative technology that uses information on encounters to improve the position information. The first promising results show that information on encounters can be used in standard integrated INS/GNSS navigation systems to aid the navigation solution. To increase the number of encounters, a group of unattended vehicles may deliberately try to encounter each other if their navigation solution becomes less certain during GNSS outages.

Coastguard and Navy assets are increasingly involved in Maritime Security Operations (MSO) for countering piracy, weapons and drugs smuggling, terrorism and illegal trafficking. Persistent tracking of vessels in interrupted time series over long distances and the modelling of intent and behaviour from multiple data sources are key enablers for Situation Assessment in MSO. Results of situation assessment are presented for AIS/VTS observations in the Dutch North Sea and for simulated scenarios in the Gulf of Oman.

The application of a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) for wireless networking is slowly gaining significance in the field of network robotics. Aerial transport of data requires efficient network protocols along with accurate positional adjustment of the MAV to minimize transaction times. In our proof of concept, we develop an Aerial networking protocol for data transfer using the technology of Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN), a store-and-forward approach for environments that deals with disrupted connectivity. Our results show that close interaction between networking and flight behavior helps in efficient data exchange. Potential applications are in areas where network infrastructure is minimal or unavailable and distances may be large. For example, forwarding video recordings during search and rescue, agriculture, swarm communication, among several others. A practical implementation and validation, as described in this paper, presents the complex dynamics of wireless environments and poses new challenges that are not addressed in earlier work on this topic. Several tests are evaluated in a practical setup to display the networking MAV behavior during such an operation.

All digital radar architecture requires exclude mechanical scan system. The phase antenna array is necessarily large because the array elements must be co-located with very precise dimensions and will need high accuracy phase processing system for aggregate and distribute T/R modules data to/from antenna elements. Even phase array cannot provide wide field of view. New nature inspired all digital radar architecture proposed. The fly’s eye consists of multiple angularly spaced sensors giving the fly simultaneously thee wide-area visual coverage it needs to detect and avoid the threats around him. Fly eye radar antenna array consist multiple directional antennas loose distributed along perimeter of ground vehicle or aircraft and coupled with receiving/transmitting front end modules connected by digital interface to central processor. Non-steering antenna array allows creating all-digital radar with extreme flexible architecture. Fly eye radar architecture provides wide possibility of digital modulation and different waveform generation. Simultaneous correlation and integration of thousands signals per second from each point of surveillance area allows not only detecting of low level signals ((low profile targets), but help to recognize and classify signals (targets) by using diversity signals, polarization modulation and intelligent processing. Proposed all digital radar architecture with distributed directional antenna array can provide a 3D space vector to the jammer by verification direction of arrival for signals sources and as result jam/spoof protection not only for radar systems, but for communication systems and any navigation constellation system, for both encrypted or unencrypted signals, for not limited number or close positioned jammers.

Aggregation of pixel based motion detection into regions of interest, which include views of single moving objects in a scene is an essential pre-processing step in many vision systems. Motion events of this type provide significant information about the object type or build the basis for action recognition. Further, motion is an essential saliency measure, which is able to effectively support high level image analysis. When applied to static cameras, background subtraction methods achieve good results. On the other hand, motion aggregation on freely moving cameras is still a widely unsolved problem. The image flow, measured on a freely moving camera is the result from two major motion types. First the ego-motion of the camera and second object motion, that is independent from the camera motion. When capturing a scene with a camera these two motion types are adverse blended together. In this paper, we propose an approach to detect multiple moving objects from a mobile monocular camera system in an outdoor environment. The overall processing pipeline consists of a fast ego-motion compensation algorithm in the preprocessing stage. Real-time performance is achieved by using a sparse optical flow algorithm as an initial processing stage and a densely applied probabilistic filter in the post-processing stage. Thereby, we follow the idea proposed by Jung and Sukhatme. Normalized intensity differences originating from a sequence of ego-motion compensated difference images represent the probability of moving objects. Noise and registration artefacts are filtered out, using a Bayesian formulation. The resulting a posteriori distribution is located on image regions, showing strong amplitudes in the difference image which are in accordance with the motion prediction. In order to effectively estimate the a posteriori distribution, a particle filter is used. In addition to the fast ego-motion compensation, the main contribution of this paper is the design of the probabilistic filter for real-time detection and tracking of independently moving objects. The proposed approach introduces a competition scheme between particles in order to ensure an improved multi-modality. Further, the filter design helps to generate a particle distribution which is homogenous even in the presence of multiple targets showing non-rigid motion patterns. The effectiveness of the method is shown on exemplary outdoor sequences.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a significant technology attracting considerable research interest. Recent advances in wireless communications and electronics have enabled the development of low-cost, low-power and multi-functional sensors that are small in size and communicate over short distances. Most WSN applications require knowing or measuring locations of thousands of sensors accurately. For example, sensing data without knowing the sensor location is often meaningless. Locations of sensor nodes are fundamental to providing location stamps, locating and tracking objects, forming clusters, and facilitating routing. This research focused on the modeling and implementation of distributed, mobile radar sensor networks. In particular, we worked on the problem of Position-Adaptive Direction Finding (PADF), to determine the location of a non- collaborative transmitter, possibly hidden within a structure, by using a team of cooperative intelligent sensor networks. Position-Adaptive radar concepts have been formulated and investigated at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) within the past few years. In this paper, we present the simulation performance analysis on the application aspect. We apply Extremum Seeking Control (ESC) schemes by using the swarm seeking problem, where the goal is to design a control law for each individual sensor that can minimize the error metric by adapting the sensor positions in real-time, thereby minimizing the unknown estimation error. As a result we achieved source seeking and collision avoidance of the entire group of the sensor positions.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being used by numerous nations for defence-related missions. In some cases, the UAV is considered a cost-effective means to acquire data such as imagery over a location or object. Considering Canada’s geographic expanse, UAVs are also being suggested as a potential platform for use in surveillance of remote areas, such as northern Canada. However, such activities are typically associated with security as opposed to defence. The use of a defence platform for security activities introduces the issue of information exchange between the defence and security communities and their software applications. This paper explores the flow of information from the system used by the UAVs employed by the Royal Canadian Navy. Multiple computers are setup, each with the information system used by the UAVs, including appropriate communication between the systems. Simulated data that may be expected from a typical maritime UAV mission is then fed into the information system. The information structures common to the Canadian security community are then used to store and transfer the simulated data. The resulting data flow from the defence-oriented UAV system to the security-oriented information structure is then displayed using an open source geospatial application. Use of the information structures and applications relevant to the security community avoids the distribution restrictions often associated with defence-specific applications.

In this paper, the prototype implementation of a scalable, distributed protocol for calculating the global average of sensed environmental variables in unattended wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is presented. The design and implementation of the protocol introduces a communication scheme for discovering the WSN topology. Such scheme uses a synchronous flooding algorithm, which was implemented over an unreliable radiogram-based wireless channel. The topology discovery protocol has been synchronized with sampling time of the WSN and must be executed before the consensus-based estimation of the global averages. An average consensus algorithm, suited for clustered WSNs with static topologies, was selected from the literature. The algorithm was properly modified so that its implementation guarantees that the convergence time is bounded and less than the sampling time of the WSN. Moreover, to implement the consensus algorithm, a reliable packet-passing protocol was designed to exchange the weighting factors among the sensor nodes. Since the amount of data exchanged in each packet is bounded by the degree of the WSN, the scalability of the protocol is guaranteed to be linear. The proposed protocol was implemented in the Sun SPOT hardware/software platform using the Java programming language. All the radio communications were implemented over the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and the sensed environmental variables corresponded to the temperature and luminosity.

This paper has been withdrawn by the publisher because it was already published in the following conference:

Electro-Optical Remote Sensing, Photonic Technologies, and Applications VIII; and Military Applications in Hyperspectral Imaging and High Spatial Resolution Sensing II

The correct record for this manuscript can be found here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2071902

Underwater surveillance is inherently difficult because acoustic wave propagation and transmission are limited and unpredictable when targets and sensors move around in the communication-opaque undersea environment. Today's Navy underwater sensors enable the collection of a massive amount of data, often analyzed offtine. The Navy of tomorrow will dominate by making sense of that data in real-time. DRDC's AMBUSH project proposes a new undersea-surveillance network paradigm that will enable such a real-time operation. Nature abounds with examples of collaborative tasks taking place despite limited communication and computational capabilities. This publication describes a year's worth of research efforts finding inspiration in Nature's collaborative tasks such as wolves hunting in packs. This project proposes the utilization of a heterogeneous network combining both static and mobile network nodes. The military objective is to enable an unsupervised surveillance capability while maximizing target localization performance and endurance. The scientific objective is to develop the necessary technology to acoustically and passively localize a noise-source of interest in shallow waters. The project fulfills these objectives via distributed computing and adaptation to changing undersea conditions. Specific research interests discussed here relate to approaches for performing: (a) network self-discovery, (b) network connectivity self-assessment, (c) opportunistic network routing, (d) distributed data-aggregation, and (e) simulation of underwater acoustic propagation. We present early results then followed by a discussion about future work.

The advent of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has generated the need for reduced size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements for communications systems with a high data rate, enhanced security and quality of service. This paper presents the current results of the DAZZLE project run by Airbus Group Innovations. The specifications, integration steps and initial performance of a UAV to ground communication system using a laser and a modulated retro-reflector are detailed. The laser operates at the wavelength of 1550nm and at power levels that keep it eye safe. It is directed using a FLIR pan and tilt unit driven by an image processing-based system that tracks the UAV in flight at a range of a few kilometers. The modulated retro-reflector is capable of a data rate of 20Mbps over short distances, using 200mW of electrical power. The communication system was tested at the Pershore Laser Range in July 2014. Video data from a flying Octocopter was successfully transmitted over 1200m. During the next phase of the DAZZLE project, the team will attempt to produce a modulated retro-reflector capable of 1Gbps in partnership with the research institute Acreo1 based in Sweden. A high speed laser beam steering capability based on a Spatial Light Modulator will also be added to the system to improve beam pointing accuracy.

Free-space optical (FSO) communication systems have seen significant developments in recent years due to growing need for very high data rates and tap-proof communication. The operation of an FSO link is suited to diverse variety of applications such as satellites, High Altitude Platforms (HAPs), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), aircrafts, ground stations and other areas involving both civil and military situations. FSO communication systems face challenges due to different effects of the atmospheric channel. FSO channel primarily suffers from scintillation effects due to Index of Refraction Turbulence (IRT). In addition, acquisition and pointing becomes more difficult because of the high directivity of the transmitted beam: Miss-pointing of the transmitted beam and tracking errors at the receiver generate additional fading of the optical signal. High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) are quasi-stationary vehicles operating in the stratosphere. The slowly varying but precisely determined time-of-flight of the Inter-HAP channel adds to its characteristics. To propose a suitable ARQ scheme, proper theoretical understanding of the optical atmospheric propagation and modeling of a specific scenario FSO channel is required. In this paper, a bi-directional symmetrical Inter-HAP link has been selected and modeled. The Inter-HAP channel model is then investigated via simulations in terms of optical scintillation induced by IRT and in presence of pointing error. The performance characteristic of the model is then quantified in terms of fading statistics from which the Packet Error Probability (PEP) is calculated. Based on the PEP characteristics, we propose suitable ARQ schemes.

Some current and future airborne payloads like high resolution cameras and radar systems need high channel capacity to transmit their data from air to ground in near real-time. Especially in reconnaissance and surveillance missions, it is important to downlink huge amount of data in very short contact times to a ground station during a flyby. Aeronautical laser communications can supply the necessary high data-rates for this purpose. Within the project DODfast (Demonstration of Optical Data link fast) a laser link from a fast flying platform was demonstrated. The flight platform was a Panavia Tornado with the laser communication terminal installed in an attached avionic demonstrator pod. The air interface was a small glass dome protecting the beam steering assembly. All other elements were integrated in a small box inside the Pod’s fuselage. The receiver station was DLR’s Transportable Optical Ground Station equipped with a free-space receiver front-end. Downlink wavelength for communication and uplink wavelength for beacon laser were chosen from the optical C-band DWDM grid. The test flights were carried out at the end of November 2013 near the Airbus Defence and Space location in Manching, Germany. The campaign successfully demonstrated the maturity and readiness of laser communication with a data-rate of 1.25 Gbit/s for aircraft downlinks. Pointing, acquisition and tracking performance of the airborne terminal and the ground station could be measured at aircraft speed up to 0.7 Mach and video data from an onboard camera has been transmitted. Link distances with stable tracking were up to 79 km and distance with data transmission over 50 km. In this paper, we describe the system architecture, the flight campaign and the results.

The new generation of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) require high speed data links to offload all its sensors data. RFSO (Reflective Free Space Optics) has become an important alternative to RF systems because it is robust against interception and jamming, enhancing data security. Moreover, the weight and power consumption of the RFSO coms module is reduced, making it suitable for SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) constrained applications. In this paper, we present the design of a tracking module based on a non-mechanical holographic beam steering system. A highly accurate position sensing unit is required to accomplish a good tracking process and therefore guarantee the data link stability. Different localization methods such as centroid, centroid windowed or centroid squared are tested and compared using real data captured in a turbulent scenario. Errors below 8cm are reported in a double pass 1km link.

We report on an investigation into optical alignment and tracking for high bandwidth, laser-based underwater optical communication links. Link acquisition approaches (including scanning of narrow laser beams versus a wide-angle ‘beacon’ approach) for different underwater laser-based communications scenarios are discussed. An underwater laserbased tracking system was tested in a large water flume facility using water whose scattering properties resembled that of a turbid coastal or harbour region. The lasers used were state-of-the-art, temperature-controlled, high modulation bandwidth gallium nitride (GaN) devices. These operate at blue wavelengths and can achieve powers up to ~100 mW. The tracking performance and characteristics of the system were studied as the light-scattering properties of the water were increased using commercial antacid (Maalox) solution, and the results are reported here. Optical tracking is expected to be possible even in high scattering water environments, assuming better components are developed commercially; in particular, more sensitive detector arrays. High speed data transmission using underwater optical links, based on blue light sources, is also reported.

The in-door free atmosphere path with the total length up to 700 m provides the unique capabilities for testing optical systems in the stable, controlled and repeatable atmospheric conditions. We present and discuss the results of experimental investigation of Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing and closed loop adaptive optics correction of atmospheric distortions at this beamlet.

Bit error rate expressions for OOK, PPM, DPPM, PAPM and DAPPM have been derived for Earth-to-satellite and satellite-to-Earth optical links. Threshold detection for OOK, DPPM, DAPPM and optimal detection for PPM and PAPM have been employed. The numerical results have been compared. It is found that for uplink: the performance of PPM is the best followed by that of DPPM, PAPM, OOK and DAPPM and for downlink the performance of PPM is the best followed by DPPM, OOK, DAPPM and PAPM. The difference in performance between the schemes is not much for uplink as compared to downlink. Since the bandwidth requirement of PPM is the largest, more bandwidth efficient schemes can be used at the cost of slightly higher transmitted power in the case of uplink. This study will be useful for modulation scheme selection for optical satellite links.

Free-Space optical communication is expected to revolutionize the deep-space communication by providing the high bandwidth data support for future solar and planetary exploration missions. Due to the cost and up-gradation constraints, an earth-based receiver seems to be a viable option. A large telescope acting as an optical antenna is required at the receiver end to support the reasonable data rates (at least in 10s of Mbps range). An array of smaller telescopes connected to fabricate a larger photon-collecting aperture is an attractive architecture. In this research, performance analyses of different array architectures are evaluated for a deep-space interplanetary optical communication link between Mars and Earth with an objective to find a lower bound on the number and sizes of individual telescopes in the array receiver. The achievable data rates are calculated for opposition and conjunction phases of Mars-Earth orbit. Various deleterious factors, such as background noise and atmospheric turbulence are also modeled in the simulations. Total aperture size of various array architectures are kept at 10 m. The comparison of results for different array architectures show that the performance of a receiver employing an array comprising of 135 telescopes with 0.86 m aperture diameter each is almost equivalent to a single telescope with 10 m aperture diameter. Further, if the diameter is reduced below this limit, the performance degradation is substantial.