Toyon Research Corporation: Advanced Target Tracking Solutions and Homeland Security Applications

Abstract:
Toyon Research Corporation (Santa Barbara, CA) provides engineering & systems analyses, utility studies, and technology development for a variety of government research programs. In our presentation, we will present projects focusing on two technology areas related to homeland security: (1) embedded image processing on wireless sensors and (2) facility protection.One common sensor modality for homeland security applications is video. While imaging sensors are the de facto standard for security and monitoring applications, their ability to be used for persistent surveillance is severely limited. This is largely due to the fact thatan operator must continuously monitor the output of a sensor to determine if a target of interest (TOI) is present. This is time consuming, tedious work that is unacceptable for operating personnel, who are already overburdened. Continuous monitoring by an operator will cause attention to fade and operators will miss potential threats. Additionally, high data bandwidth requirements can make imaging sensors difficult to deploy in large numbers for certain applications; but, a high sensor count is essential for large tactical persistent surveillance. In this talk we provide an overview of Toyon's work in automated image processing as well as work on wireless data transport. Toyon's focus in wireless communications is the translation of novel physical layer waveforms to FPGA-based processors in order to meet size, weight, and power requirements of many embedded applications.For the past ten years, Toyon Research's Homeland Security group has also worked on several applications related to protecting high-value facilities from chemical, biological, radiological and explosive threats. Toyon's work has focused on designing protective systems composed of employing advanced technologies as well as advanced techniques, tactics and procedures (TTP's) for first responders and security personnel. In this talk, we will also describe the overall design approach, discuss some specific experiences and suggest some general problems encountered in designing and implementing these protective systems. Host: Prof. Sanjit Mitra

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Talyia Veal