Rapid turnaround Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) software for far less than the cost of building it in-house

Applied Research Associates, Inc. Saves Time and Money with custom Automatic Target Recognition Software from Charles River Analytics

The Situation

When Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) was asked by one of their Government clients to develop a system for simulating the effectiveness of automatic target recognition (ATR-guided) aerial vehicles, they turned to Charles River Analytics for our computer vision expertise and VisionKit tools.

In earlier projects, ARA's prototype simulators used a fixed percent chance that the virtual vehicle would correctly recognize the virtual target as it flew over. Now their client was requesting a higher fidelity simulation using imagery simulating the output from laser-radar and infrared sensors in the vehicle's automatic target recognition mode. ARA needed to incorporate automatic target recognition software while still meeting the budget and schedule for their project. This was a challenge: each automatic target recognition algorithm is specific to the sensor for which it was designed and to the types of targets it was designed to recognize. Chances were slim for finding ready-made software that fit their needs. Developing a software module from scratch would have caused a schedule delay.

The Charles River Analytics Solution Working with Charles River Analytics to build on VisionKit components, ARA was able to deliver their project on time and on budget. We were able to develop automatic target recognition software modules to ARA specifications in just over one man-month for each sensor type. In each case, we delivered a standalone application that conformed to ARA's simulation requirements. Each module working in ARA's simulator was able to reliably detect targets (as shown in the figures below) and correctly label the target types for which ARA had provided training images. The applications run in near-real-time, which was more than sufficient for ARA's simulation pipeline. In addition, we delivered an off-line training application, in case ARA needed to retrain the ATR for different target types.

Two examples of correctly recognized targets (vehicle type indicated by color) in simulated images of buildings and roads

The Benefit

For a fraction of the cost that ARA would have had to pay their own developers, we provided two simulation modules that behave much like actual fielded ATR systems might behave in a real aerial vehicle. We were able to turn these projects around as fast as we did thanks to our accumulated expertise in developing algorithms and software for all kinds of object recognition, and due to the many image processing, feature extraction, and classification functions already implemented in VisionKit.

ARA

Applied Research Associates, Inc. is an international research and engineering company recognized for providing technically excellent solutions to complex and challenging problems in the physical sciences. The company was founded in 1979, in Albuquerque, NM. ARA has offices throughout the United States and Canada and provides a broad range of technical expertise in defense technologies, civil technologies, computer software and simulation, systems analysis, environmental technologies, and testing and measurement. ARA also provides sophisticated technical products for environmental site characterization, pavement analysis and robotics.