Multithreat detection system for land APS systems

Active Protection Systems (APS) require robust early-warning and multi-threat detection capabilities in order to effectively react against such attacks. This work presents the design and experimental evaluation of a multi-sensor early-warning architecture for ground-based APS applications, such as vehicles or point-defense stations, named SEDIM, after Multiband-Infrared-Detection Electro-optical System., for early detection of threats such as rockets and MANPADS. The proposed system combines complementary sensing modalities: a laser sensor unit with capabilities to detect telemeters, designators, dazzlers and illuminators, an IR thermal camera aimed for rocket launching detection and tracking and a commercial acoustic sensor. A final control unit integrates information from all sensors to discriminate between threats and relay the Angle of Arrival (AoA) to the vehicle control unit. This paper describes the system configuration and architecture, as well as the factory tests run on the system and field tests results to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach and confirm its potential as a foundational layer in future APS deployments.