Domain Awareness Research Articles

Give light, and the darkness will disappear: Australia’s quest for maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean

ABSTRACTThere is a growing understanding among maritime security practitioners of the importance of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) as an essential enabler of maritime security. This article describes Australia’s efforts to develop an integrated national MDA system that brings together data and intelligence from a range of military and civil agencies and commercial sources to which a risk-based assessment is applied. This has become an essential tool to combat transnational maritime security threats in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere. But inherent limitations of national MDA systems are also pushing Australia and other countries to cooperate in trying to improve MDA. This paper then examines ways in which Australia can promote MDA cooperation in the Indian Ocean. It considers the effectiveness and limitations of current and proposed multilateral information sharing arrangements in the region. It concludes that Australia should primarily focus on working with selected Indian Ocean partners to enhance information sharing and help develop integrated national MDA systems.

PERAIRAN BERMASALAH : TANTANGAN MARITIM DI ASIA PASIFIK

<p><em>Asia Pacific is a region with great attractions and also highly dynamic, with its growth and economic pulse that affects economy of the world. High economic growth coupled with regionalism and globalization generates implications the emergence of issues related to maritime security, national borders, disputes on territory rich in resources, environmental issues, transnational organized crimes, natural disasters, and energy and food security. Globalization itself creates new interactions among regional countries as a precondition to solve and face common problems in maritime domain awareness network. Regional Maritime Partnership is a smart choice when regional stability is becoming the goal of all states to maintain regional resilience. Indonesia’s position is unique as the link between two regions (Pacific and Indian Ocean) dependent on each other. Indonesia never recedes in providing the drive for regional stability through balancing strategies without becoming entangled in alliances. Indonesian Navy as a component of national strength participates in the application of national strategy into naval strategy and operationalizing it in diplomacy and multilateral exercises to enhance interoperability among navies in Asia Pacific, especially among ASEAN nations.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em> Maritime Challenges, Maritime Security, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Regional Maritime Partnership. </em></p>

Visual tracking of resident space objects via an RFS-based multi-Bernoulli track-before-detect method

In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable track-before-detect approach to simultaneously detect, track, and identify an unknown and variable number of resident space objects (RSOs) without any prior information and any explicit detection, which leads to better space domain awareness. Specifically, we use the point spread function concept to propose a separable likelihood function as the observation model in the random finite set-based multi-Bernoulli filtering framework. This framework clearly distinguishes RSOs from any counterfeit objects and detects and tracks them immediately after their respective appearance in background cluttered telescope imagery data. The extensive experimental results on the TAOS dataset demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method in detecting and tracking RSOs with the average optimal subpattern assignment localization error less than 2 pixels in image sequences with the signal to noise ratio as low as 9 dB and under the conditions of varying illumination and occlusion.

India-US maritime cooperation: Crossing the rubicon

ABSTRACTIndia and the US have crossed the proverbial Rubicon in their bilateral ties, with maritime cooperation being the mainstay. The US-India navy-to-navy cooperation has emerged as the “best performing area of bilateral relationship”. The maritime domain including the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific area has emerged as the domain for the identification of commonly perceptible threats and goals in the larger Asian maritime expanse. A series of developments, agreements and understandings has gradually been cementing the rubric of US-India maritime cooperation. This paper proposes to justify the hypothesis that maritime cooperation between the US and India is one of the primary mainstays of their bilateral cooperation, and that the proposition will only get stronger going forward. By analysing various steps in maritime cooperation between the two countries, the paper seeks to highlight the rationales for such cooperation; growing Chinese presence in the region, non-traditional threats, HA/DR cooperation, domain awareness, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, regional stability, and balance of power.

“AIS 2.0”: Technological changes, implications and policy recommendations

ABSTRACTSpace-based detection of Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmissions is increasingly being used as a means of collating vessel information for building Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). With the introduction of “Long-Range AIS” through a specific AIS message (Message 27), designed for reception from space, some of the existing problems with space-based vessel detection would be obviated. Nonetheless, the system cannot replace terrestrial detection. In some cases, interaction between the two segments – space and ground based – of the system may even render one segment totally ineffective. From the user-perspective, an examination of the underlying technical issues will help understand the capabilities and limitations of the system as an aid to global vessel tracking. Designing future sub-systems to optimally exploit the changes is important.

Training Special Operations Forces to Conduct Maritime Surveillance: A New Approach

Special Operations Forces personnel must conduct maritime surveillance in a variety of settings, for a variety of purposes, using a wide range of tactics and resources. This paper describes an effort to use innovative methods to define training and technology gaps/needs and provide validated training and technology to meet those needs for maritime SOF individuals and teams. A Delphi survey approach was used to build consensus among the SOF personnel about the most important training needs. Maritime Domain Awareness and Command and Control for maritime mission operations were defined as the two most important training needs. A series of novel Course Design Events were used to test the effectiveness of the training in its formative state and make needed revisions. The SOF teams were able to try out the new training in a culminating exercise. In addition, the development team was able to find, modify, and test technology in the areas of communication, visual surveillance equipment both for day and night suitable for use on the water, and Unmanned Aerial Systems. The resulting training and technology will make SOF teams better prepared and more effective in their maritime surveillance missions.

India's maritime security governance challenges: A decade after “26/11”

ABSTRACTConsequent upon the Mumbai attacks between 26 and 29 November 2008 (“26/11”) by Pakistan-based terrorists, the coastal (and maritime) security construct in India witnessed significant developments; perhaps, like no other decade in the history of independent India. As a result, key areas which found particular focus were: strengthening maritime governance by establishing inter-agency coordination mechanisms; capacity-building and capability-enhancement of maritime security agencies; developing Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) through electronic surveillance; greater oversight of activities in the maritime domain, particularly fishing; and, an inclusive approach to security by including communities and private bodies in the security-construct. These developments are indicative of a Whole-of-Government (WoG) approach to maritime security. As some major notable reports have indicated, despite these significant developments, challenges to maritime security governance remain. This paper encapsulates some of the salient developments since “26/11” and examines a few key findings from some of the studies, particularly on the aspects of maritime-security governance.

Towards a secure automatic identification system (AIS)

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is the emerging system for automatic traffic control and collision avoidance services in the maritime transportation sector. It is one of the cornerstone systems for improved marine domain awareness and is embedded in e-navigation, e-bridging, and autonomous ships proposals. However, AIS has some security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to invade privacy of passengers, to launch intentional collision attacks by pirates and terrorists, etc. In this work, we explore how Identity-Based Public Cryptography and Symmetric Cryptography may enhance the security properties of the AIS.

QDaS: Quality driven data summarisation for effective storage management in Internet of Things

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the emergence of enabling many interesting applications within the realm of several domains including smart cities. However, the accumulation of data from smart IoT devices poses significant challenges for data storage while there are needs to deliver relevant and high quality services to consumers. In this paper, we propose QDaS, a novel domain agnostic framework as a solution for effective data storage and management of IoT applications. The framework incorporates a novel data summarisation mechanism that uses an innovative data quality estimation technique. This proposed data quality estimation technique computes the quality of data (based on their utility) without requiring any feedback from users of this IoT data or domain awareness of the data. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed QDaS framework using real world datasets.

Sustained Observations of Changing Arctic Coastal and Marine Environments and Their Potential Contribution to Arctic Maritime Domain Awareness: A Case Study in Northern Alaska

Increased maritime activities and rapid environmental change pose significant hazards, both natural and technological, to Arctic maritime operators and coastal communities. Currently, U.S. and foreign research activities account for more than half of the sustained hazard-relevant observations in the U.S. maritime Arctic, but hazard assessment and emergency response are hampered by a lack of dedicated hazard monitoring installations in the Arctic. In the present study, we consider a number of different sustained environmental observations associated with research into atmosphere-ice-ocean processes, and discuss how they can help support the toolkit of emergency responders. Building on a case study at Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska, we investigate potential hazards in the seasonally ice-covered coastal zone. Guided by recent incidents requiring emergency response, we analyze data from coastal radar and other observing assets, such as an ice mass balance site and oceanographic moorings, in order to outline a framework for coastal maritime hazard assessments that builds on diverse observing systems infrastructure. This approach links Arctic system science research to operational information needs in the context of the development of a Common Operational Picture (COP) for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) relevant for Arctic coastal and offshore regions. A COP in these regions needs to consider threats not typically part of the classic MDA framework, including sea ice or slow-onset hazards. An environmental security and MDA testbed is proposed for northern Alaska, building on research and community assets to help guide a hybrid research-operational framework that supports effective emergency response in Arctic regions.

The Challenges of Digitisation and Data Analysis in the Maritime Domain

ABSTRACTThe volume of collected and synthesised data available to governmental leaders assessing the maritime domain has increased rapidly over recent years. Analogue data has given way to digital data, which provides an opportunity for better storage, analysis and transfer. Data infusion and management has become the key constraint in respect of data collection. Using data to make decisions requires the appropriate tools and processes to assess and transfer data to near real-time user domains. In the maritime environment, there is a constantly growing demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data for both national security and commercial purposes, including data sharing among partner nations. However, an increase in available data does not automatically equate to an increase in decision-ready information. Rather, the increase in data can overwhelm sensors, databases and analysts. The concept and use of “big data” exacerbate the already overwhelming flow of data in terms of the volume, variety, and velocity of the data being received. This paper will explore the digitisation of the maritime domain, and the prospect of performing data analysis in a world of rapidly growing data.Abbreviations: BAMS: Broad area maritime surveillance; DAMA-DMBOK: Data Management Association Guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge; ECDIS: Electronic chart display and information system; EDM: Enterprise data management; ELT: Extract, load, transform; ETL: Extract, transform, load; ISR: Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; MDA: Maritime domain awareness; PWC: PriceWaterhouseCoopers; ROI: Return on investment; SDLC: Systems development life cycle; TCPED: Tasking, collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination; WGS: Wideband global satellite

Challenges and Potential in Space Domain Awareness

Challenges and Potential in Space Domain Awareness

Joint Probabilistic Data Association and Smoothing Applied to Multiple Space Object Tracking

A foundational aspect of space domain awareness is the ability to identify and track space objects, including space object discovery and custody. This paper demonstrates the power of combining an efficient multiple hypothesis joint probabilistic data association (MH-JPDA) algorithm with a fixed-interval smoother to simultaneously track multiple space objects. For newly discovered objects, statistical initial orbit determination (SIOD) is possible with a single short optical tracklet, but results in large initial uncertainties. Combining these uncertainties with closely spaced objects can result in highly ambiguous data associations, which can lead to poor state estimates and even filter divergence. This paper invokes MH-JPDA to probabilistically update multiple tracks with multiple simultaneous observations in a sequential filter, while avoiding assigning one-to-one associations. Once sufficient information has been collected, the space objects become uniquely distinguishable among each other. Subsequently, the smoother is applied to achieve improved association of the prior observations. MH-JPDA allows for immediate track formation (using SIOD) and sequential processing of incoming observations, providing statistically rigorous real-time state estimates, whereas smoothing produces a more-refined, higher-confidence overall track estimate at user-defined intervals. This paper demonstrates this approach within the Constrained Admissible Region, Multiple Hypothesis Filter (CAR-MHF) software by tracking a simulated break-up scenario.

Developing a Credible Defense Posture for the Philippines: From the Aquino to the Duterte Administrations

Since 2011, the Aquino administration has bolstered the development of a credible external defense posture of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the face of China's territorial expansion in the South China Sea. This move entailed the upgrading of the Philippine Navy's and the Philippine Air Force's capabilities for maritime domain awareness and naval interdiction. The Aquino administration also anchored its strategic agenda on the 60‐year‐old Philippines‐U.S. alliance by signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The election of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the 16th president of the Philippines, however, generated uncertainties on whether or not he will continue building the AFP's territorial defense capabilities. Eventually, Duterte decided to continue the Aquino administration's build‐up as a hedge, in case he should find it imperative in the future to pursue his predecessor's policy of challenging China's expansive claim in the South China Sea. The article concludes that like Aquino's security policy, the Duterte administration is also committed to building up the Philippine military's credible defense posture—in light of the growing uncertainties in the region marked by China's emergence and the perceived retreat of the United States as a Pacific power.

Beyond seablindness: a new agenda for maritime security studies

This article examines the rise of maritime security in concept and practice. We argue that developments in the maritime arena have flown beneath the radar of much mainstream international relations and security studies scholarship, and that a new agenda for maritime security studies is required. In this article we outline the contours of such an agenda, with the intention of providing orientation and direction for future research. Our discussion is structured into three main sections, each of which outlines a core dimension of the maritime security problem space. We begin with a discussion of the issues and themes that comprise the maritime security agenda, including how it has been theorized in security studies to date. Our argument is that the marine environment needs to be understood as part of an interlinked security complex, which also incorporates strong connections between land and sea. Second, we examine the ways in which maritime security actors have responded to these challenges in practice, focusing on issues of maritime domain awareness, coordination of action, and operations in the field. Third, we turn to the mechanisms through which the new maritime security agenda is being disseminated to local actors through a process of devolved security governance. We focus particularly on efforts to distribute knowledge and skills to local actors through capacity building and security sector reform. In the conclusion, we outline the future challenges for maritime security studies that follow from these observations.

Visual Tracking Methods for Improved Sequential Image-Based Object Detection

This paper applies the random finite set based multi-Bernoulli filter with a detectionless likelihood function to frame-to-frame tracking of space objects observed in electro-optical imagery for space domain awareness applications. First, this paper reviews multi-Bernoulli filters applied to frame-to-frame tracking, image statistics, and matched filters. A likelihood function for space-based imagery is analyzed in comparison to the previously used likelihood function. A birth model is proposed that better models potential space objects using observer characteristics and object dynamics. In simulation, the final algorithm is able to perform completely uncued detection down to a total photometric signal-to-noise ratio of 5.6 and a per-pixel signal-to-noise ratio of 1.5. Promising results are shown for a total photometric signal-to-noise ratio of 3.35 and per-pixel signal-to-noise ratio of 0.7. The algorithm is also applied to empirical data, which involves tracking of low signal-to-noise ratio geostationary objects in images taken with a 0.5 m Raven-class telescope.

Towards a Cognitive Radar: Canada's Third-Generation High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) for Surveillance of the 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

Canada’s third-generation HFSWR forms the foundation of a maritime domain awareness system that provides enforcement agencies with real-time persistent surveillance out to and beyond the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Cognitive sense-and-adapt technology and dynamic spectrum management ensures robust and resilient operation in the highly congested High Frequency (HF) band. Dynamic spectrum access enables the system to simultaneously operate on two frequencies on a non-interference and non-protected basis, without impacting other spectrum users. Sense-and-adapt technologies ensure that the system instantaneously switches to a new vacant channel on the detection of another user or unwanted jamming signal. Adaptive signal processing techniques mitigate against electrical noise, interference and clutter. Sense-and-adapt techniques applied at the detector and tracker stages maximize the probability of track initiation whilst minimizing the probability of false or otherwise erroneous track data.

A case for a pan-Indian Ocean information grid for improved maritime domain awareness

ABSTRACTThe Indian Ocean region, in recent years, has witnessed a proliferation of information centers which have emerged in response to various sub-regional requirements and sometimes representing diverse interest groups. This paper highlights the gaps in regional maritime domain awareness (MDA) and argues that the multiple disparate information systems have not contributed to improving overall maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean region. It puts forward a case for a pan-Indian Ocean information grid that could integrate the various information sources to provide comprehensive MDA for the region.

Small islands' understanding of maritime security: the cases of Mauritius and Seychelles

ABSTRACTThe inclusion of a Sustainable Development Goal (No. 14) on the oceans by the United Nations (UN) provides formal and global recognition that the effective management of the blue economy is a key component of global development efforts. For island states, the importance of the maritime domain is unquestionable with many having responsibility for, and access to, vast areas of ocean. In the Indian Ocean region, island states have increasingly recognized this situation by placing greater emphasis on ocean policy and the opportunities the maritime domain offers. However, island states inevitably face challenges as their smaller size often means they lack the capacity to enhance their maritime domain awareness and effectively respond to insecurity. This paper seeks to shed further light on the maritime security considerations – their characteristics and influencing factors – of island states in the Indian Ocean. The paper contains a content analysis of key documents to examine the way in which maritime security challenges have been publicly communicated by island states in the region. It then utilizes additional documents and interview material to elaborate the way in which two specific states – Mauritius and Seychelles – have approached their maritime security in maritime piracy for Seychelles and drug trafficking in Mauritius. In doing this, the paper provides valuable insights into the way in which policy-makers in Indian Ocean island states understand the sustainable development–maritime security relationship.

An Edge-Referenced Surface Fresh Layer in the Beaufort Sea Seasonal Ice Zone

AbstractTo understand the factors causing the interannual variations in the summer retreat of the Beaufort Sea ice edge, Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Surveys (SIZRS) aboard U.S. Coast Guard Arctic Domain Awareness flights were made monthly from June to October in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The seasonal ice zone (SIZ) is where sea ice melts and reforms annually and encompasses the nominally narrower marginal ice zone (MIZ) where a mix of open-ocean and ice pack processes prevail. Thus, SIZRS provides a regional context for the smaller-scale MIZ processes. Observations with aircraft expendable conductivity–temperature–depth probes reveal a salinity pattern associated with large-scale gyre circulation and the seasonal formation of a shallow (~20 m) fresh layer moving with the ice edge position. Repeat occupations of the SIZRS lines from 72° to 76°N on 140° and 150°W allow a comparison of observed hydrography to atmospheric indices. Using this relationship, the basinwide salinity signals are separated from the fresh layer associated with the ice edge. While this layer extends northward under the ice edge as the melt season progresses, low salinities and warm temperatures appear south of the edge. Within this fresh layer, average salinity is correlated with distance from the ice edge. The salinity observations suggest that the upper-ocean freshening over the summer is dominated by local sea ice melt and vertical mixing. A Price–Weller–Pinkel model analysis reveals that observed changes in heat content and density structure are also consistent with a 1D mixing process.