Electro-optic identification research program

Electro-optic identification (EOID) sensors provide photographic quality images that can be used to identify mine-like contacts provide by long-range sensors, such as sonar systems. To help support the transition of these sensors to the fleet as well as to aid in the development of future EOID sensors, the Office of Naval Research (322-OP) has funded a five-year research program to investigate the performance properties of existing EOID sensors as a function of ocean environment. This paper describes the EOID research program and its objectives along with a brief discussion of supporting tasks such as validating existing electro-optic models, development of performance metrics, and development of computer aided identification and automatic target recognition algorithms. In addition, data from the recent field test are presented.