SMARTracIn: a concept for spoof resistant tracking of vessels and detection of adverse intentions

Abstract

The aim of maritime surveillance systems is to detect threats early enough to take appropriate actions. We present the results of a study on maritime domain awareness performed during the fall of 2008. We analyze an identified capability gap of worldwide surveillance in the maritime domain, and report from a user workshop addressing the identified gap. We describe a SMARTracIn concept system that integrates information from surveillance systems with background knowledge on normal conditions to help users detect and visualize anomalies in vessel traffic. Land-based systems that cover the coastal waters as well as airborne, space-borne and ships covering open sea are considered. Sensor data are combined with intelligence information from ship reporting systems and databases. We describe how information fusion, anomaly detection and semantic technology can be used to help users achieve more detailed maritime domain awareness. Human operators are a vital part of this system and should be active components in the fusion process. We focus on the problem of detecting anomalous behavior in ocean-going traffic, and a room and door segmentation concept to achieve this. This requires the ability to identify vessels that enter into areas covered by sensors as well as the use of information management systems that allow us to quickly find all relevant information.