Multisensor Fusion

doi:10.1117/3.2542436.ch5

Multisensor Fusion

Book: Automatic Target Recognition, Fourth Edition

Author(s): Bruce J. Schachter

Published: 2020

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2542436.ch5

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

Many different kinds of sensors can provide information to an ATR. Sensors are differentiated by their spectral band, operating range, coverage, emissions, latency; and size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). One must also consider the impact on their imagery (or more generally, data) of weather, lighting conditions, and target motion. One sensor may be able to observe a target under certain conditions, e.g., fog, when another sensor can’t see it at all. Multisensor data is combined (fused) to produce better ATR performance than can be achieved with a single sensor type. Multisensor fusion also provides robustness to sensor failure, degraded atmosphere, decoys, camouflage, and jamming.