New Development Direction for Large Defense Industry

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Lockheed Martin has received a $12 million contract from the U.S. Army to develop a Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion (MMSF) testbed for a rotary-wing aircraft. The company is developing sensor fusion and integration technologies that will enhance rotary-wing aircraft survivability and enable pilots to navigate safely in all environments, even when there is no GPS signal. The MMSF will blend data from multiple sensor types to restore a pilot’s situational awareness in degraded visual environments (DVEs). “Current Lockheed Martin fire control systems are enabling pilots to own the night,” said Paul Lemmo, vice president of Fire Control at Lockheed Martin. “Our next-generation MMSF technology will help them own the environment as well. Our work will enable helicopter aircrews to operate more safely and effectively in even the most challenging visual environments”, Lemmo told businessinsider.com.

During the 40-month effort, Lockheed’s engineers will integrate government-furnished sensors in a reconfigurable, open-architecture testbed that supports the development of DVE systems for rotary-wing aircraft. Other activities include refining multi-modal fusion techniques, real-time 3-D mapping and implementing symbols and cues for pilot sensor displays.

MMSF processes sensor data to generate real-time 3-D terrain maps of the area around the aircraft, these maps can identify and highlight obstacles to improve situational awareness for pilots, mission commanders and other platforms. Potential recipients of such capabilities include existing Army helicopters and Future Vertical Lift solutions.