A system for multispectral object identification, comprising:
- an autonomous aircraft sensor suite onboard an autonomous aircraft including at least one of:
- a vision system (VS), a radio frequency (RF) radio detection and ranging (RADAR) system, a laser imaging detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, a map database, and an avionics suite;
- an object identification and positioning system associated with the autonomous aircraft sensor suite and including at least one processor;
- and
- a storage including a multispectral (MS) database associated with each of the object identification and positioning system and the processor, the MS database including a plurality of historical object data defining an associated plurality of objects;
- a tangible, non-transitory memory within the storage configured to communicate with the at least one processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored therein that, in response to execution by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
- determine a sensor hierarchy of the autonomous aircraft sensor suite based on each of:
- a mission of the autonomous aircraft, a speed of the autonomous aircraft, an altitude of the autonomous aircraft, or a range between the autonomous aircraft and a sensed object;
- receive first sensor data from at least one first sensor of the autonomous aircraft sensor suite, the at least one first sensor selected based on the sensor hierarchy, the at least one first sensor operating within a first spectrum, the first sensor data including at least one first attribute of the sensed object;
- compare the received at least one first attribute to the historical object data;
- identify the sensed object if the first attribute comparison results in a match;
- update a partition of the MS database with the at least one first attribute of the sensed object if the first attribute comparison results in a non-match;
- receive second sensor data from at least one second sensor of the autonomous aircraft sensor suite, the at least one second sensor selected based on the sensor hierarchy, the second sensor data including at least one second attribute of the sensed object, the at least one second sensor operating within a second spectrum diverse from the first spectrum;
- compare the received at least one second attribute to the historical object data;
- identify the sensed object if the second attribute comparison results in a match;
- update the partition of the MS database with the at least one second attribute of the sensed object if the second attribute comparison results in a non-match;
- determine a position of the autonomous aircraft based on the identification of the sensed object;
- and
- manipulate a flight control based on the position.