MARITIME UAS DETECTION: A MULTI-SENSOR FUSION FRAMEWORK FOR SOF OPERATIONS

Abstract

Maritime Special Operations Forces require passive counter-unmanned aircraft systems (cUAS) capabilities for small vessel operations under emissions control conditions. This research addressed the systems engineering challenge of integrating heterogeneous commercial sensors into a unified, vendor-agnostic detection architecture. A modular fusion framework called the Operational Data Integration Node (ODIN) was developed using plugin-based software architecture to enable rapid integration of radio frequency, electro-optical/infrared, radar, and acoustic sensors from multiple manufacturers. The system was extensively tested at Joint Interagency Field Experimentation 25-4, and Bold Machina 2025; demonstrating successful integration of five sensor types using disparate data protocols within 72 hours. Field testing achieved a greater than 90 percent reduction in operator display clutter, two-second passive-to-active sensor cueing, and continuous operation in Sea State 4 conditions. The research demonstrated expeditionary maintainability through successful field repair of component failures and proved vendor-agnostic architecture feasibility for coalition interoperability.