Proceedings Article | 9 May 2009
KEYWORDS: Infrared signatures, Standards development, Sensors, Data centers, Defense and security, Acoustics, Infrared radiation, Radar, Nuclear radiation, Electro optics
The Signatures Support Program (SSP) leverages the full spectrum of signature-related activities (collections,
processing, development, storage, maintenance, and dissemination) within the Department of Defense (DOD), the
intelligence community (IC), other Federal agencies, and civil institutions. The Enterprise encompasses acoustic,
seismic, radio frequency, infrared, radar, nuclear radiation, and electro-optical signatures. The SSP serves the war
fighter, the IC, and civil institutions by supporting military operations, intelligence operations, homeland defense,
disaster relief, acquisitions, and research and development. Data centers host and maintain signature holdings,
collectively forming the national signatures pool. The geographically distributed organizations are the authoritative
sources and repositories for signature data; the centers are responsible for data content and quality. The SSP proactively
engages DOD, IC, other Federal entities, academia, and industry to locate signatures for inclusion in the distributed
national signatures pool and provides world-wide 24/7 access via the SSP application.