August 1, 2015 at 12:30 pm
was looking for articles on autonomous aircraft recognition software, as this would be of great value for missiles and UAVs in detecting and engaging aircraft autonomously
then I came across this articles on aircraft recognition from satellite images from 2014
http://www.theijes.com/papers/v3-i3/Version-3/E0333021025.pdf
which is interesting in combination with the video here, where a computer autonomously detects movement
http://www.skyimd.com/kestrel.html
meaning that the high quality video feed from a satellite put through a powerful computer with this software could
a) automatically detect the movement of any (high flying) (stealthy) aircraft
b) automatically recognize it by type (Su-30, F-22, B-2, UCAV…). not that it would need to, it can just push the image to a human who’ll easily recognize it
anyway, does this mean that stealthy aicraft can’t operate within sight of a satellite? because their movement would automatically be detected, and thus they would become a viable target
I do wonder what effect bad weather and night would have on this detection ability
but if you look at google Earth view, you can easily recognize for example the F-15s and F-16s sitting on the ground at Nellis Air Force base
I imagine an F-22 or UCAV operating at maximum altitude will only be easier to spot, as it’ll be flying higher and above bad weather. at night a satellite might even spot the display lights in the F-22 cockpit
which brings me back to an old concept of mine, a live-streaming unmanned U-2 if you will
basically a UAV (could be manned, but that would greatly limit its flight time) that flies at extreme altitudes and has sensors and software specialised in detecting and tracking aircraft
something like Argus would work very well here