SBIR-STTR Award

The next generation of Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Net System (ULCANS) must conceal assets against detection and surveillance from a wide range of current and emerging threat systems. These threats include LADAR, radar, and multi-spectral and hyper-spectral imaging sensors. While current camouflage systems provide concealment against most of these threats, they fail to protect against LADAR. Through holes in the net, LADAR systems can sense assets concealed below the net. Additionally, the smooth catenary or bowl-shaped appearance of deployed nets can cue LADAR detection.ThermoAnalytics Inc., together with Saab Barracuda USA and Milliken & Company, will develop preliminary designs for strategies that deny or confuse LADAR detection of camouflage nets and assets. In the Phase I effort, the team will evaluate and estimate the performance of the strategies, create 3D models of net designs to identify strategies that can minimize catenary effects, and generate 3D point clouds using a LADAR simulation to investigate the effectiveness of the most promising strategies. Throughout the effort, the team will design in compatibility with the other requirements for ULCANS including concealment from other threat sensors, ventilation for thermal and wind loading, durability in field environments, lightweight, low cost, and short strike and erect cycles.

The next generation of Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Net System (ULCANS) must conceal assets against detection, observation, and surveillance from current and emerging threat systems. While current camouflage systems can protect against most types of threats, they were not engineered to deter detection from LiDAR. In this effort, ThermoAnalytics Inc. and Saab Barracuda USA will develop a camouflage net system that can conceal assets against detection from LiDAR without compromising ULCANS other concealment capabilities. The team will continue the LiDAR testing program started in Phase I to derive at an understanding of how LiDAR systems interact with a camouflage net. A series of additional field tests will be conducted with CRREL to include more advanced LiDAR systems and testing in a variety of natural clutter environments. To support the design effort, ThermoAnalytics will develop simulation tools that can recreate the point clouds observed in the tests, simulate the LiDAR performance for different conditions and net designs, and estimate the effects that the net has on target detection. From this combination of testing and simulation, the team will design and evaluate net designs aimed at deterring detection from LiDAR. Prototypes of the overall net system will be manufactured and tested.