Abstract
The modular aerial camera system (MACS) is a development platform for optical remote sensing concepts, algorithms and special environments. For real-time services for maritime security (EMSec joint project), a new multi-sensor configuration MACS-Mar was realized. It consists of four co-aligned sensor heads in the visible RGB, near infrared (NIR, 700–950 nm), hyperspectral (HS, 450–900 nm) and thermal infrared (TIR, 7.5–14 µm) spectral range, a mid-cost navigation system, a processing unit and two data links. On-board image projection, cropping of redundant data and compression enable the instant generation of direct-georeferenced high-resolution image mosaics, automatic object detection, vectorization and annotation of floating objects on the water surface. The results were transmitted over a distance up to 50 km in real-time via narrow and broadband data links and were visualized in a maritime situation awareness system. For the automatic onboard detection of floating objects, a segmentation and classification workflow based on RGB, IR and TIR information was developed and tested. The completeness of the object detection in the experiment resulted in 95%, the correctness in 53%. Mostly, bright backwash of ships lead to an overestimation of the number of objects, further refinement using water homogeneity in the TIR, as implemented in the workflow, couldn’t be carried out due to problems with the TIR sensor, else distinctly better results could have been expected. The absolute positional accuracy of the projected real-time imagery resulted in 2 m without postprocessing of images or navigation data, the relative measurement accuracy of distances is in the range of the image resolution, which is about 12 cm for RGB imagery in the EMSec experiment.
Highlights
Remote sensing methods have been used in maritime scenarios for many years with different scopes that can be attributed to maritime security and safety [1]
German Navy operates a pollution control aircraft mainly for oil spill detection [18], several national search-and-rescue operations use helicopters equipped with multi-sensor reconnaissance payloads [19]
In Germany, the main agencies with maritime security tasks have created a joint ‘Maritime Safety and Security Center of the Federal Government and the Coastal States’ in which information gathered by the contributing partners are shared [20]
Summary
Remote sensing methods have been used in maritime scenarios for many years with different scopes that can be attributed to maritime security and safety [1]. All those sensors and methods have been tested or applied on airborne platforms [15]. An extensive suite of instruments and methods is available for gathering information about the maritime environment. Several of these remote sensing methods are applied today in a regular manner. In Germany, the main agencies with maritime security tasks have created a joint ‘Maritime Safety and Security Center of the Federal Government and the Coastal States’ in which information gathered by the contributing partners are shared [20]
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