EW Academy · Contents · Chapter 25 · Nederlandse versie
Chapter 25: Multi-sensor detection & sensor fusion
Why no single sensor is enough: radar, passive RF/ESM, EO/IR and acoustics with their strengths and weaknesses, combining them through cueing and correlation (data, feature and decision fusion), the challenges, and what this means for both detection and EW.
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25.1Why no single sensor is enough
No single sensor sees everything. Every detection method has blind spots — and a clever opponent aims his countermeasures at exactly that one sensor. A stealth shape avoids radar ( Electronic Counter Measures ), a fibre-optic drone emits…
Read §25.1 →25.2The sensors and their strengths and weaknesses
One sensor's weakness is often another's strength: where radar misses a low, silent drone, acoustics or EO/IR can still pick it up. That is exactly why you combine them.
Read §25.2 →25.3What fusion adds: cueing and correlation
Think of a group of sentries: one hears something and points, another looks at it through binoculars, and together they know more than each on their own. That is how sensors cue each other.
Read §25.3 →25.4Levels of fusion
Merging can take place at different levels, with a trade-off between accuracy and complexity:
Read §25.4 →25.5Challenges
Sensor fusion cuts both ways. Defensively it makes detection robust against any single countermeasure: a stealth shape that avoids radar can still light up in IR or passive RF. Offensively it means you do not have to defeat one sensor but…
Read §25.5 →