The domain below the surface in maritime security is hard to monitor with conventional methods, due to the often very noisy environment. In conventional methods the measurements are thresholded in order to distinguish potential targets. This is not always a feasible way of treating measurements.
In this project a system based on raw measurements, that are not thresholded, is presented in order to track and classify divers with an active sonar. With this system it is possible to detect and track weak targets, even with a signal to noise ratio that often goes below 0 dB.
The system in this project can be divided into three parts: the processing of measurements, the association of measurements to targets and the classification of targets. The processing of measurements is based on a particle filter using Track Before Detect (TBD). Two algorithms for association of measurements, Joint Probabilistic Data Association (JPDA) and Highest Probability Data Association (HPDA), have been implemented. The classification of targets is done using an assumed novel approach.
The system is evaluated by doing simulations with approximately 8 hours of recorded data, where divers are present at nine different times. The simulations are done a number of times to catch The classification rate is high and the false alarm rate is low.
Source: Linköping University
Author: Westman, Peter | Andersson, Mikael