Customers capture data during Sensor Week

Photo By Sara L Vidoni | Tanks are one of the many foreign and domestic military vehicles used for...... read more read more

Photo By Sara L Vidoni | Tanks are one of the many foreign and domestic military vehicles used for seeker/sensor testing during Sensor Week March 3 -14 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Sensor Week, hosted every two years by Project Chicken Little of the 46th Test Squadron’s Sensor and Defensive Systems Test Flight, is an Air Combat Command sponsored cost-shared opportunity between the government and interested participants to collect data against foreign and domestic test items in both static and dynamic environments. (U.S. Air Force photo/Sara Vidoni)  see less | View Image Page

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FL, UNITED STATES

03.24.2014

Courtesy Story

96th Test Wing

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By Sara Vidoni
Team Eglin Public Affairs

More than 50 organizations gathered on the Eglin range March 3 - 14 for a cost-shared, data collection event known as Sensor Week.

These organizations came from across the country for the opportunity to test their electro-optical, infrared and radio frequency sensors and equipment against operationally-representative targets - targets that without Sensor Week would not be readily available to any of the participants.

Sensor Week, hosted every two years by Project Chicken Little of the 46th Test Squadron's Sensor and Defensive Systems Test Flight, is an Air Combat Command sponsored cost-shared opportunity between the government and interested participants to collect data against foreign and domestic test items in both static and dynamic environments.

Customers come to Sensor Week to measure seeker/sensor data using their equipment on various scenarios such as ground threat vehicles or improvised explosive device scenarios.

"Testing these sensors is extremely important for the Air Force because sensors are used on almost every flying platform," said Capt. Danielle, Prieto, a test engineer for Project Chicken Little. "Sensors used for tracking foreign and domestic ground assets, vehicles, bombs and more, directly impact the defense of our nation against threats."

During Sensor Week, Project Chicken Little provides customers with realistic scenarios to test their sensors and tactics. These scenarios included maritime operations in local waters, ground-based transport and attack maneuvers and up to 10 daily air operations using 15 different aircraft ranging from the F-15 Eagle and F-35 Lightning II to the Cessna 208.

Now in its 29th year of operation, Project Chicken Little continues to host joint service customers at Sensor Week from varied military units such as the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center to several DoD-sponsored defense contractors.

"Sensor Week is an appealing event for customers because Project Chicken Little takes care of everything that is customer-supported during normal test such as manpower, range assets and scheduling," said Todd Dulle, Sensor Week 2014 project lead test engineer. "The end result is that all data collected must be shared with the Eglin Signature Data Center at the completion of the event. It's a win-win for all involved."

Previous Sensor Week testing has proven very successful for the combat Air Force both at home and in deployed settings.

"Technologies flying right now and being tested during Sensor Week are transitioning real-time out into the field," said Steve Allen, director of Project Chicken Little.

During Sensor Week 2012, two systems tested, including an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance-manned platform developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, were immediately developed and deployed to theater.

"Project Chicken Little allows the combat Air Force a good look into these technologies, how they are being used, what the next generation of technology may be and gives them a chance to see what else is going on out there," said Allen. "The true strength of Project Chicken Little and Sensor Week is with the dollars we receive, we are able to leverage the test community around us and the resources needed to get the job done and get it done right."

Sensor Week also generates a large return on research investment and dramatically improves program risk reduction for Air Force Materiel Command and the combat air forces in that for each Sensor Week event the government obtains the performance results from more than 50 participants with only this single bi-annual investment, according to Allen.

The Information Exploitation Branch of the AFRL was one of the first-time participants in this year's Sensor Week.

"Our main purpose for participating in the event was to collect multi-spectral, infrared imagery for algorithm development," said Duane Geci, a support contractor of the branch. "We were extremely pleased with the outcome of the testing and will be walking away with over a terabyte of data from the two weeks."

Upon completion of Sensor Week, Project Chicken Little provides the customers with Ground Truth reports that provide key information such as data points taken, photographs and vehicle parameters that guide the customers in analyzing their data.

Once all Sensor Week data is compiled, anyone within the Department of Defense has access to the information and can use it to fine tune programs or improve their sensor systems, according to Prieto.

"At the end of the day, Sensor Week is not just about testing, we are directly responding to the combat Air Force's needs," said Allen. "The technologies being tested during these two weeks will make a difference in the years to come across the Department of Defense."

The Sensor and DSTF commander praised his team's efforts on another successful event.

"We must appreciate the professionalism and efficiency of the entire Sensor Week team in making this event possible," said Maj. Bill Keichel. "Sensor Week is a massive effort and once again, the team nailed it."