Intelligent management of multiple sensors for enhanced situational awareness

Wide area motion imagery (WAMI) offers the promise of persistent surveillance over large regions. However, the combination of lower frame rate and coarser spatial resolution found in most WAMI systems can limit the ability to track multiple targets. One way to address this limitation is to employ the wide-area sensor in concert with one or more high resolution sensors. We have developed a capability called Sensor Management for Adaptive Reconnaissance and Tracking (SMART), for tasking an arbitrary number of high-fidelity assets, working with the WAMI sensor to maximize situational awareness based on a prevailing set of conditions and target priorities. We present a simulation framework for exploring performance of various sensor management strategies and present the findings from an initial set of experiments.