Radar Detection of Marine Mammals
Abstract
The long term goal is to develop a radar solution for the detection of marine mammals using shipborne radar and demonstrate its performance. In particular, a solution using commercial surface search radars is desired as it provides a readily accessible technique for commercial shipping concerned about ship strike of marine mammals and/or detection for compliance with operating permits. There are two technical objectives for this work. The first is to develop a near-real-time signal processor/radar combination that is suitable for the detection of marine mammals. The second objective is to assess the performance of such a combination in specific ocean conditions / species combinations in order to establish the utility of such a system. The general approach is to iterate between experimental results and processing improvements. As such, the current work represents one cycle of development. There are three elements to the approach as follows: The first task is to collect a data set from a fixed location. The dataset should have significant diversity in (a) look directions, (b) range from the radar and (c) sea conditions. The dataset should have sufficient animals to make a statement about both probability of detection (PD) as well as false alarm rate (FAR). The second task is to make an assessment of the performance of the radar plus signal processing algorithm for the detection of marine mammals The third is to convert the algorithm into a low-latency processor suitable for a ship borne application where a mitigation action may need to be undertaken in response to a detection. The resulting processor will then be tested in a ship borne test. This will be followed by a number of iterations to improve both the timeliness of the processor as well as a reduction in the FAR.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA505246
Entities
People
- Charles P. Forsyth