New patent application published for: Multi-Domain Signature Management System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Multi-Domain Signature Management System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Claims

1. A unified multi-domain signature management system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the system comprising: a Target Fusion Engine (TFE) hardware module coupled to a plurality of sensor modalities; and a Signature Priority Manager (SPM) module in electrical communication with the TFE; and a Constraint Satisfaction Solver (CSS) processor connected to the SPM; and at least three domain-specific countermeasure hardware subsystems selected from a Radar/RCS Management Subsystem, an Acoustic Management Subsystem, an Infrared Management Subsystem, an RF/EM Emission Management Subsystem, and a Visual Stealth Subsystem; and a Signature Verification Module (SVM) comprising domain-specific verification sensors; wherein the TFE receives signals from the sensor modalities monitoring at least three of radar cross-section, acoustic emission, infrared emission, radio frequency emission, and visual contrast to produce a real-time Target State Vector (TSV) encoding bearing, range, target type, detection confidence, and estimated lethality, the SPM allocates countermeasure activation levels across a plurality of signature domains by applying a target-to-domain priority matrix and solving a power-constrained resource allocation problem when required power exceeds an available budget, the CSS computes, at a rate of at least 25 Hz, a jointly optimal countermeasure operating point across all active signature domains subject to cross-domain physical coupling constraints, and the SVM measures achieved signature reduction to provide closed-loop feedback to the active countermeasure subsystems and the SPM.
2. The system of claim 1 further comprising: an Interacting Multiple Model Extended Kalman Filter (IMM-EKF) integrated within the Target Fusion Engine; wherein the IMM-EKF maintains a bank of parallel Kalman filters under different target motion models and assigns Bayesian model probabilities updated at each measurement cycle.
3. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a segmented plasma electrode array having at least eight independently controllable electrode segments distributed across a UAV airframe within the Radar/RCS Management Subsystem; wherein the electrode segments facing the target radar bearing identified from the TSV are selectively activated while other segments remain inactive, thereby reducing total power consumption by at least 60% relative to full-coverage activation.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising: shape-memory alloy actuators embedded in rotor blade trailing edges within the Acoustic Management Subsystem; wherein the actuators deflect trailing edge geometry in the range of plus or minus 8 degrees under closed-loop control of a Filtered-X Least Mean Squares algorithm to minimize measured blade passing frequency harmonics.
5. The system of claim 4 further comprising: a multi-rotor phase synchronization controller coupled to individual rotor commutation timing circuits within the Acoustic Management Subsystem; wherein the phase synchronization controller applies differential phase offsets to individual rotor commutation timing signals to produce destructive acoustic interference at the target acoustic bearing identified from the TSV.
6. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a thermoelectric heat redistribution network having heat pipes and Peltier modules connecting motor nacelles and a battery bay to distributed radiator panels within the Infrared Management Subsystem; wherein the thermoelectric heat redistribution network minimizes the variance of the airframe surface temperature distribution rather than minimizing total thermal emission.
7. The system of claim 6 further comprising: an array of at least 32 electrochromic panel zones covering an outer airframe surface; wherein each electrochromic panel zone provides independently adjustable infrared emissivity in the range of 0.05 to 0.95 and is controlled to minimize the difference between apparent surface temperature and measured sky background infrared radiance.
8. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a burst-mode transmitter and a frequency-hopping spread spectrum transceiver within the RF/EM Emission Management Subsystem; wherein the RF/EM Emission Management Subsystem implements low probability of intercept protocols comprising burst-mode transmission with a maximum burst duration of 10 milliseconds, frequency hopping at a configurable hop rate, and steganographic covert channel encoding.
9. The system of claim 1 further comprising: an array of visible-band electrochromic panels covering outer airframe surfaces, a contrail suppression system having airflow baffles around rotor tips, and a sun glint management module within the Visual Stealth Subsystem; wherein the electrochromic panels provide independently adjustable visible-band reflectance, the airflow baffles actuate in high-humidity conditions, and the sun glint management module provides orientation guidance to a flight control system.
10. The system of claim 1 further comprising: an embedded flight management computer hosting the Constraint Satisfaction Solver; wherein the Constraint Satisfaction Solver implements an ADMM algorithm with warm-starting from a previous solution, achieving convergence in 3-8 iterations for incremental target changes and completing each optimization cycle within 10 milliseconds.
11. The system of claim 1 further comprising: memory storing cross-domain physical coupling constraint data accessible by the Constraint Satisfaction Solver; wherein the CSS automatically detects and resolves constraints comprising at least a plasma electrode activation exclusion zone preventing RF antenna operation on co-located surface segments, a rotor phase deviation bound limiting phase perturbation to within a flight-stability margin, a thermoelectric power budget constraint, an LPI burst schedule synchronization constraint with EW Beamforming frame timing, and an adaptive skin panel high-voltage isolation constraint when plasma is active on adjacent surfaces.
12. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a user interface storing five operator-selectable mission mode profiles; wherein the profiles comprise a SILENT mode activating all domains at maximum power, an ISR mode prioritizing infrared and acoustic domains, a TRANSIT mode applying balanced moderate activation at 50% power, an EW SUPPORT mode relaxing RF emission constraints to permit active EW operations, and a STRIKE mode prioritizing radar and infrared domains.
13. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a swarm-level collective signature coordination network including a Formation RCS Optimizer, a swarm-wide rotor phase synchronization system, and a coordinated RF emission scheduler; wherein the Formation RCS Optimizer computes an optimal swarm formation rotation angle minimizing aggregate collective radar cross-section with respect to the target radar bearing, the rotor phase synchronization system computes inter-vehicle rotor phase offsets for collective acoustic cancellation, and the coordinated RF emission scheduler manages aggregate swarm emission patterns as a collective stealth property.
14. The system of claim 13 further comprising: a BFT-confirmed consensus mechanism network link connecting the Formation RCS Optimizer to members of the swarm; wherein the Formation RCS Optimizer broadcasts formation updates via the BFT-confirmed consensus mechanism to achieve swarm-wide formation reconfiguration within 200 milliseconds of a target bearing change.
15. The system of claim 1 further comprising: at least five verification hardware subsystems within the Signature Verification Module, including a monostatic RCS estimator with a self-illuminating UWB pulse emitter, an onboard microphone array, an IRST sensor in self-monitoring mode, a spectrum analyzer, and a downward-looking electro-optical camera; wherein the verification hardware subsystems measure monostatic RCS, acoustic power, IR self-monitoring profiles, RF emissions, and visual contrast to quantify and audit achieved signature reduction.
16. The system of claim 1 further comprising: an operator-configurable target-to-domain priority matrix database connected to the SPM; wherein the SPM applies a 5×5 target-to-domain priority matrix encoding a priority level from 1 to 5 for each combination of five target types and five signature domains, the matrix being configurable before flight to reflect the specific target profile of an operational area.
17. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a fractional knapsack allocation module within the SPM; wherein the fractional knapsack allocation module activates when the sum of required countermeasure powers across all active domains exceeds an available power budget, and selects a combination of domain activation levels that maximizes total target mitigation value subject to the power budget constraint.
18. A method for managing a plurality of electromagnetic and physical signatures of an unmanned aerial vehicle simultaneously, the method comprising: receiving sensor data from a plurality of distinct sensor modalities, each monitoring a different signature domain selected from radar cross-section, acoustic, infrared, radio frequency emission, and visual contrast; and fusing the sensor data in a multi-modal tracking algorithm to produce a real-time Target State Vector encoding the bearing, classification, confidence, and lethality of all active targets; and allocating countermeasure resources across all active signature domains using a power-constrained priority assignment derived from a target-to-domain priority matrix; and computing a jointly feasible countermeasure operating point for all active signature domains simultaneously using an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers decomposition that resolves cross-domain physical coupling conflicts automatically; and commanding all domain-specific countermeasure subsystems to the computed operating point; and measuring achieved signature reduction in each domain through closed-loop verification sensors; and adjusting countermeasure commands based on measured signature error until all domains achieve target reduction levels within a configurable tolerance.
19. A constraint satisfaction method for coordinating countermeasures across a plurality of distinct signature reduction domains in an unmanned aerial vehicle, the method comprising: formulating a multi-domain signature reduction optimization problem having a decision variable vector comprising separate sub-vectors for each active signature domain and an objective function comprising the sum of detection probabilities in each active domain weighted by target severity; and identifying cross-domain physical coupling constraints comprising at least a plasma sheath activation exclusion zone constraint preventing simultaneous plasma electrode activation and RF antenna transmission on co-located surface regions, a rotor phase deviation bound constraint limiting rotor phase modification to within a flight stability margin, and a total power budget constraint on the aggregate power consumed by all active countermeasure subsystems; and decomposing the optimization problem into domain-separable sub-problems using an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) algorithm; and solving each domain sub-problem in parallel and updating global coupling variables until convergence within a configurable optimality tolerance.
20. A Target State Vector (TSV) data structure embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium for unified multi-domain signature management, the data structure comprising: an azimuth bearing field; and an elevation angle field; and an estimated slant range field; and a three-dimensional velocity field; and a primary sensor modality target type field; and a normalized detection confidence field; and a lethality radius field; and a domain bitmask field; and an estimated engagement time field; and a priority index field; and a source node identifier field; and a timestamp field; and a cryptographic signature field; wherein the fields collectively encode target characteristics, and the TSV data structure is broadcast to all members of a UAV swarm via peer-to-peer mesh communication within 10 milliseconds of target detection for authenticity verification by receiving nodes.