An automated surface surveillance system
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#2002 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved. 0160-5682/02 $15.00 www.palgrave-journals.com/jors
An automated surface surveillance system KYK Ng1,2* and A Ghanmi1 1 Department of National Defence, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and 2School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
This paper describes an automated surface surveillance system, developed on behalf of the Government of Canada to detect and track illegal vessels. The scenario involves a moving target having speed significantly less than the searcher speed, slowly approaching Canada’s coastline. The crux of the surveillance problem is to determine the sequence of sub-regions to search in order to maximize the probability of target detection. The complexity of our surveillance problem lies in the absence of knowledge on the target location, speeds and course. Additionally, the searcher is frequently confronted with insufficient time to area search the sub-regions. The presence of false targets and the occurrence of irregular search area further compound the problem. Our decision support system is a combination of established theories on probability maps, barrier patrol and a novel construction of heuristics for area searching irregular regions. Our approach also involves extensive use of visualization tools to aid code debugging and validation. More importantly, our automated surveillance system provides a user-friendly environment for decision planners. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2002) 53, 697–708. doi:10.1057=palgrave.jors.2601363 Keywords: defence; search theory; heuristics; applied mathematics
Introduction In response to an urgent need by the Government of Canada to develop a surface surveillance system to detect and track illegal vessels, an automated surface surveillance system has been developed. This paper describes our approach to the surface surveillance problem in the Canadian context. Surveillance is the systematic observation of aerospace, surface, sub-surface areas, places and objects by visual, electronic, photographic and other means.1 Surveillance of a region is conducted by using a search system to detect targets and a tracking system to follow them. Detection can be achieved by barrier patrol on the periphery of the region and by area searches within the region.2 If a target is detected, either as it penetrates the region or after it is in the region, it will be tracked. In surface surveillance, the detection instrument used in the barrier search might not necessarily be the same as that used inside the region. For example, the instruments employed in an area search might consist of a field of passive sensors, while the barrier search might consist of mobile units using an active sensor. The scenario being studied involves a moving target (ship) slowly approaching Canada’s coastline. It is given that the target vessel is non-radiating and its speed is considerably less than the searcher’s speed, approximately in the ratio of 1:20. When the target is within visual range of the searcher (the
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