Maritime detection framework 2.0: a new approach of maritime target detection in electro-optical sensors

Abstract

Detecting maritime targets with electro-optical (EO) sensors is an active area of research. One current trend is to automate target detection through image processing or computer vision. Automation of target detection will decrease the number of people required for lower-level tasks, which frees capacity for higher-level tasks. A second trend is that the targets of interest are changing; more distributed and smaller targets are of increasing interest. Technological trends enable combined detection and identification of targets through machine learning. These trends and new technologies require a new approach in target detection strategies with specific attention to choosing which sensors and platforms to deploy. In our current research, we propose a ‘maritime detection framework 2.0’, in which multi-platform sensors are combined with detection algorithms. In this paper, we present a comparison of detection algorithms for EO sensors within our developed framework and quantify the performance of this framework on representative data. Automatic detection can be performed within the proposed framework in three ways: 1) using existing detectors, such as detectors based on movement or local intensities; 2) using a newly developed detector based on saliency on the scene level; and 3) using a state-of-the-art deep learning method. After detection, false alarms are suppressed using consecutive tracking approaches. The performance of these detection methods is compared by evaluating the detection probability versus the false alarm rate for realistic multi-sensor data. New types of maritime targets require new target detection strategies. Combining new detection strategies with existing tracking technologies shows potential increase in detection performance of the complete framework.