A Defence Public Sector Unit (PSU) required the development of an AI/ML-based Search and Track application capable of detecting, recognizing and tracking targets using passive Electro-Optical (EO) and Infrared (IR) sensor systems. The solution was intended for deployment on fighter aircraft and naval platforms, enabling continuous surveillance and target tracking during both day and night operations.

The project spanned 18 months and was delivered by a dedicated ALTEN team of six engineers in India. The engagement focused on implementing an AI/ML-driven processing pipeline on GPGPU hardware, developing a modular multimedia processing architecture for EO/IR sensor data, generating low-level design documentation and supporting system testing and validation activities.

The scope included:

• AI/ML processing pipeline implementation for target detection and tracking
• Search and Track application development for naval and airborne platforms
• EO and IR sensor-based target detection and recognition
• Real-time target tracking and track management
• GPGPU-enabled application development and deployment
• Multimedia processing pipeline architecture development
• Image enhancement and sensor fusion
• Object detection and target association
• Low-Level Design (LLD) documentation
• System testing and validation
• Acquisition, processing, and display workflow development
• Day and night surveillance support

Challenge:

EO/IR Sensor-Based Detection

• Detecting and identifying targets from passive EO and IR sensor streams across varying environmental and visibility conditions
• Maintaining reliable target recognition performance during both daytime and nighttime operations

Continuous Target Tracking

• Maintaining track continuity after target acquisition while managing target movement and changing scene conditions
• Supporting target association, initiation, confirmation, and maintenance throughout the tracking lifecycle

Complex Processing Workflows

• Integrating image acquisition, enhancement, detection, tracking, post-processing, and visualization functions within a unified processing framework
• Ensuring efficient data flow between multiple processing stages without impacting performance

Real-Time GPGPU Execution

• Deploying computationally intensive AI/ML and image-processing algorithms on GPGPU hardware platforms
• Balancing real-time processing requirements with detection and tracking accuracy

Defence System Validation

• Delivering a surveillance application suitable for naval and airborne operational environments
• Supporting system traceability, testing, and long-term maintainability requirements

ALTEN Solutions

Multimedia Processing Architecture:

• GStreamer-based acquisition, processing and display layers handling filtering, decoding, encoding and rendering

EO/IR Image Enhancement and Fusion

• Digital Detail Enhancement (DDE), contrast enhancement and Day/IR image fusion

Target Detection and Track Management

• AI/ML object detection with Kalman Filter-based Single Object Tracking (SOT), covering automatic track initiation, maintenance, confirmation and deletion of inactive tracks

Post-Processing and Visualization:

• Kinematic analysis, image stitching, panorama generation, shimmer removal, overlays, history-based tracking insights and zoom tools for operators

Documentation and Validation:

• LLD documentation and system testing to verify tracking performance and operational readiness

Business Benefits

Automated Target Detection and Tracking

• Enabled continuous detection, recognition, and tracking of targets from EO and IR sensor streams without reliance on active sensing systems

Improved Surveillance Effectiveness

• Combined image enhancement, sensor fusion, object detection, and tracking capabilities improved target visibility across day and night operations

Enhanced Track Continuity

• Automated target association, initiation, confirmation, and maintenance improved tracking reliability and reduced manual monitoring effort

Real-Time Operational Performance

• GPGPU-enabled processing architecture supported real-time execution of AI/ML and image-processing workloads for surveillance applications

Scalable Processing Framework

• Modular pipeline architecture enabled integration of additional capabilities and future enhancements without redesigning the core system

Tools, Technologies & Expertise

Engineering & Development Tools

• Embedded C
• C++
• Python
• TensorFlow
• Red Hawk Linux
• GStreamer
• GPGPU Hardware Platforms

Engineering Capabilities

• AI/ML Processing Pipeline Development
• EO/IR Image Processing
• Digital Detail Enhancement (DDE)
• Image Fusion
• Object Detection and Recognition
• Kalman Filter-Based Target Tracking
• Multimedia Pipeline Development
• Real-Time GPGPU Optimization
• System Integration and Validation

Domain Expertise

• Defence Surveillance Systems
• Naval Search and Track Applications
• Airborne Search and Track Systems
• Electro-Optical and Infrared Sensing
• Mission-Critical Software Development
• Situational Awareness and Target Tracking Solutions

Where ALTEN Adds Value

• Unified architecture combining enhancement, fusion, detection and tracking
• Scalable multimedia pipelines for real-time surveillance
• End-to-end development, documentation, integration and validation for defence programs

Why ALTEN
ALTEN brings together computer vision, AI/ML and real-time software engineering to deliver reliable target surveillance and tracking for naval and airborne operations