The U.S. Navy is seeking new technologies to enhance automatic target recognition and tracking for maritime helicopter missions.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane has issued a request for information (RFI) for automatic target recognition (ATR) and tracking capabilities, particularly those able to detect and monitor drone swarms or multiple vessels at once.
The Navy aims to integrate such technologies into its maritime helicopter operations.
“This RFI is searching for any [ATR] and tracking approaches and/or products that would work for Maritime Helicopter Operations,” the RFI states. “The ideal background for these solutions would be from air to ocean as surface or air to air with sea state as background utilizing different sensor types.”
The Navy is specifically interested in solutions capable of handling multiple object tracking – including groups of unmanned systems – in high-clutter maritime environments.
“Ideally, the solutions would be capable of detection, identification, and maintaining unique track IDs within high clutter backgrounds and obscured conditions such as fog, rain and wind, rotor wash, variety of sea states, etc.,” the RFI reads.
Responding companies are asked to provide overviews of their algorithmic approaches and the types of targets and environments their systems have been designed for or tested with. The Navy is also requesting information about the kinds of sensor data currently used and whether firms can supply labeled datasets suitable for training and operational deployment.
The RFI does not specify which geographic combatant commands or current missions might be involved in future use of the technologies.
Responses to the RFI are due by Oct. 31.