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The CECOM Center for Night Vision and Electro-Optics (C2NVEO) is pursuing a broad based effort to develop Automatic Target Recognizers for a variety of tactical Army applications. The effort includes the development of improved thermal imaging sensors that have fewer artifacts and better sensitivity, uniformity and dynamic range than currently deployed infrared imaging systems. These imagers, along with other sensors, are being used to collect field data of military vehicles and their environment. This digital imagery is being added to an expanding data base that also contains hybrid and synthetic sensor data providing a controlled variability unattainable with real imagery alone. The real imagery provides the validation of this characterized sensor data base. Sensor data from non-imaging sensors is being added to encompass multisensor applications. A facility has been established for training, and testing ATR's where this data can be used in conjunction with a physical terrain board and a sensor test station. The facility has demonstrated the capability to rapidly assess the performance of several ATR's. The current ATR's being investigated are instrumented for rapid, detailed analysis of the algorithms' functions. Full programmability allows investigation of competing algorithms without designing new circuitry. Additional algorithm improvements are being investigated. Techniques using neural nets and optical processing are being pursued. Assembly of "submicron" components using miniaturized packaging concepts is leading to demonstrations of the feasibility of ATR's within stringent platform constraints.
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