Electromagnetic Remote Sensing Defence Technology Centre

1
Electromagnetic Remote SensingDefence Technology
Centre

• Professor Keith Lewis
• Research Director

2
Scope of the EMRS DTC

• The EMRS-DTC supports
• Research applicable to military and security
  systems that gather and process electro-magnetic
  signals, propagating in free space to a
  collecting aperture, for the purposes of remote
  sensing
• Charter from MoD covers 6 years of activity, with
  a total budget of 30m (5m pa)
• Matched by Contribution in Kind from industrial
  consortium members
• It does not fund research into-
• Acoustic systems
• Communication systems (except for IFF)
• Jamming systems.
• Directed-energy damage weapons
• Systems for detection of chemical biological
  agents
• Data fusion algorithms
• Other DTCs
• Data Information Fusion
• Human Factors Integration
• Counter-terrorism Centre
• Systems Engineering Integrated Systems for
  Defence Autonomous Semi Autonomous Vehicles
• US/UK International Technology Alliance -
  research in networking and information sciences

3
General Strategy

• Need to ensure that DTCs output can be seen to
  be exploited in military and/or commercial
  systems
• Ensure the best use of Industrys Contribution in
  Kind
• Exploit the position of the EMRS DTC in relation
  to other DTCs
• Seek collaborative opportunities
• Harmonise activities with other funded MoD
  programmes
• Exploit ability of Dstl to plan trials to address
  the military context
• Ensure the positioning of the DTCs programme in
  relation to the spirit of the Defence Technology
  Strategy (DTS)
• Seek game-changing solutions

4
MoD Key Drivers

• MoD has identified the following key military
  capabilities needed from future sensor systems
• Day and night, all weather capability
• Long range operation
• Rapid, large area search capability
• Detection of low signature targets
• Detection of camouflaged / concealed targets
• Affordable, robust systems for military platforms
• Covert operation
• Multi-function, detection / ID capability

At 0.4THz, the apparent temperature contrast for
a sheet of explosive hidden under light clothing
is about 2K
5
Some high priority drivers from the DTS

• Capitalise on the UK's excellence in sensor
  technology with increased emphasis on
  multifunctionality and target recognition
• Develop a holistic sensing capability, using
  multiple sensor types across a network of
  platforms
• Progressively combine the functionality of
  previously separate sub-systems through shared
  apertures and processing
• Lightweight multifunctional apertures
• Ensure that UK Industry is able to access GaN
  technology
• Substantial research investment required in
  countermine technologies
• Increased emphasis will be placed on engaging the
  widest possible range of expertise and innovation
• 3-D ground target imaging using active EO
  illumination
• Target investment in laser sources against
  important military specific technologies
• Work towards compact modular DIRCM
  self-protection systems to allow rapid upgrades
• Link sensor protection research with sensor
  system suppliers through demonstrator programmes
• Maintain an indigenous capability to develop and
  exploit Signal Processing

6
Strategy for pull-through

• Key role of Industry-based Theme Leaders
• RF Systems - Tony Kinghorn (Selex)
• EO Systems - Stuart Duncan (Selex), Stephen
  McGeoch (Thales)
• Transducer Devices and Materials - Richard Lang
  (Filtronic)
• Transducer Embedded Processing - Bryan Rickett
  (Roke Manor)

7
Surveillance and Target Detection

• Targets with low radar cross section, or which
  are wholly or partly hidden by foliage, or which
  have low contrast compared with the background,
  pose particular difficulties
• Engagements involving missiles (both
  line-of-sight and ballistic) are particularly
  difficult, requiring detection and associated
  weapon systems with rapid response times (low
  latency)
• Low altitude, slow moving air targets, such as
  uninhabited air vehicles and cruise missiles,
  pose particular problems of detection and
  tracking due to clutter and obscuration
• In urban warfare, the ability to image the
  interior of buildings and locate people inside
  them would be of great value to troops, as would
  the ability to be able to detect at range
  metallic and plastic (explosive) objects carried
  under garments

• What if
• We could lip read at distance
• We could tag people
• We could identify people and their intent using
  non-visual cues
• What sensing modalities do we need?
• What are the networking implications?

8
RF Broad Areas of Interest

• Ultra-wideband and multi-frequency single
  aperture RF sensors
• RF Sensors for urban operations
• Short-range and stand-off sensors
• Advanced building and ground-penetrating
  solutions
• Classification and identification of military
  targets using RF sensors
• Approaches for addressing difficult targets
• Enhanced sensor output to enable reliable ATI
• Seamless bistatic/multistatic radar operation and
  passive RF observation for network-centric
  surveillance and targeting
• Low-cost electronic technologies for RF sensors
• Solutions for aircraft/UAV collision avoidance

9
RF Specific Areas of Interest

• Technologies for transmit/receive modules for
  phased array antennas capable of supporting
  tunable operating bands of two to three octaves
• Low cost digitising receivers with gt95dB SFDR or
  gt100 MHz bandwidth
• Rapidly tunable filters for array front-end
  protection (jamming/RFI)
• Innovative approaches for true time-delay
  electronically steered antennas
• Innovative short-range RF surveillance systems,
  especially for use in urban environments
• Advanced waveform designs to minimise and/or
  exploit multi-path/Doppler effects in complex (eg
  urban) environments
• Low THz (0.3 - 0.7THz) detector arrays and
  sources, especially high power source technologies

10
EO Broad Areas of Interest

• Technologies for surveillance, detection and
  identification
• Active sensing
• Range gating techniques
• Laser sources/detectors
• Vibrometry
• Discriminative sensing
• Hyperspectral/Multispectral, Polarisation
• Low cost/compact solutions
• Novel concepts
• Synthesis of volumetric images - real time 3D
  image reconstruction from multiple viewpoints
• Networked sensors especially on unmanned vehicles
• Imaging through atmospheric turbulence
• Unconventional imaging techniques
• Image reconstruction from incomplete data
• Optical technologies for efficient exfiltration
  of information from remote sensors

Waterfall Solutions
11
EO Specific Areas of Interest

• Compact, rugged, power-efficient laser sources
• Sensors and techniques for target tracking and
  classification
• Solutions for compact multi-spectral and
  polarimetric imagers
• Novel solutions for geo-location
• Unconventional imaging techniques/image
  reconstruction from incomplete data
• Coded aperture imaging
• Integral imaging
• Computed tomographic imaging sensors
• Phase recovery/exploitation
• Aperture enhancing techniques
• Speckle imaging
• Quantum imaging
• Wavefront control/phase correction
• Intelligent laser beam pointing technologies
• Pattern recognition/intelligent image compression
  technologies
• Low-cost optics

Silica Target
Source - University of Hawaii
Source - Livermore
12
Transducer Devices and Materials Broad Areas of
Interest

• Reduction in cost, size, power consumption and
  weight of T/R components and modules for Radar,
  UAV sensing and EW applications
• Efficient, broadband, detection, high-power
  generation and amplification at microwave, mm
  wave terahertz frequencies using III-V and wide
  band-gap semiconductors
• Advanced component and circuit concepts for
  adaptive array radars and next generation EW
  system for use in complex environments
• High dynamic-range receivers and receiver
  protection
• Improved power efficiency, packaging and thermal
  management of high-power devices
• Emphasis on the use of cross-cutting and emerging
  technologies

Conventional GaAs 20W 10GHz module
Aberdeen/Glasgow Universities
13
TDM Specific Areas of Interest (1)

• Microwave Devices Materials
• Ensure UK access to enhanced microwave
  performance of critical semiconductor devices at
  affordable cost
• Wide bandgap semiconductor material devices for
  high-temperature, high-power applications
• High-voltage passive components for use with wide
  band-gap devices
• MEMS, nanotechnology and innovative integration
  on Silicon and/or SiGe
• Photonic processors for microwave sampling and
  microwave-over-fibre
• Technologies for low power consumption electronic
  systems

Decoys Replacing TWT / GaAs with GaN module
Skynet Mobile Satcomm base stations 20-100W _at_
8GHz (tube replacement)
Naval EW 3-12 GHz gt 100W amplifier Instant on
cf TWTs
14
TDM Specific Areas of Interest (2)

• Circuits Packaging
• To improve system performance and cost through
  innovative circuits and packaging techniques
• Technology to protect high dynamic range
  receivers against high power RF electronic attack
• Technology to support advanced multifunctional
  radars and active RF resource management
• Rapidly tuneable low loss filters
• Low phase noise signal generation
• Integrated mixed technology applications
  (microwave/digital, EO/microwave etc.)
• Integration and packaging of high power devices
• Efficient microwave power amplifiers and sources
• Practical, low-loss, ultra-fast MEMS switches for
  high frequency application
• High dynamic range A/D converters
• 3D microwave interconnect and ultra low-cost
  packaging techniques
• Novel MMIC circuits for microwave and MM-Wave
  applications

2-20GHz MMIC Amplifier
Prototype left-hand material filter Manchester
University
15
Transducer Embedded Processing - Broad Areas of
Interest

• Software and hardware methodologies and
  architectures
• Minimise effect of processor evolution on
  through-life cost of ownership of defence remote
  sensing systems
• Solutions enabling low power consumption
• Signal processing for self-test, self diagnosis,
  self healing
• Techniques for low latency, high throughput
  processing
• Processing techniques for enhancing intelligence
  of sensors and for data extraction
• Processing methods for sensors supporting
  operations in the asymmetric threat environment
• Data adaptive signal and information processing
• Geolocation in multipath environments
• Multiple target tracking
• Strategies for wide area search

Video anomaly detection (Roke Manor)
16
TEP Specific Areas of Interest

• Innovative signal processing techniques for
  extracting the most useful information from a
  given sensor
• Techniques that can be used to improve system
  costs, reliability, availability or robustness of
  remote sensing devices
• Methods for rapid firmware and hardware
  development
• Methods for reducing processing latency and
  improving efficiency in terms of algorithm
  improvements or hardware resource optimisation
• Realisation of the sensing elements of autonomous
  systems that could fulfil various roles. Although
  full autonomy is the ultimate goal there are
  likely to be a number of technology breakthroughs
  in this area that could be used to provide human
  assistance rather than full autonomy
• Techniques for imaging and image enhancement
• Remote threat recognition using non imaging
  techniques

17
remember the poster presentations
MOD Technology Management Workshops