Maritime Situation Awareness Capabilities from Satellite and Terrestrial Sensor Systems

Segmentation and wake removal of seafaring vessels in optical satellite images

This paper aims at the segmentation of seafaring vessels in optical satellite images, which allows an accurate length estimation. In maritime situation awareness, vessel length is an important parameter to classify a vessel. The proposed segmentation system consists of robust foreground-background separation, wake detection and ship-wake...

Characterisation of small targets in a maritime environment by means of laser range profiling

Potential asymmetric threats at short range in complex environments need to be identified quickly during coastal operations. Laser range profiling is a technology that has the potential to shorten the OODA loop (Orient, Observe, Detect, Act) by performing automatic characterisation of targets at large distance. The advantages of non-cooperative...

Evaluation tools for the effectiveness of Infrared Countermeasures and Signature reduction for Ships

Laser Radar for Detection and Identification of Maritime Targets

Unattended Monitoring of Suspicious Behaviour for Route Surveillance

A priori information on suspicious behaviour is extremely valuable for countering threats involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Suspicious activities along routes during expeditionary operations can be monitored by unattended networks using simple sensing nodes that can gather data for continuous monitoring of daily vehicle activity....

Evaluation tools for the effectiveness of infrared countermeasures and signature reduction for ships

The protection of ships against infrared guided missiles is a concern for modern naval forces. The vulnerability of ships can be reduced by applying countermeasures such as infrared decoys and infrared signature reduction. This paper will present a set of simulation tools which can be used for assessing the effectiveness of these measures. The...

The inter-comparison of AATSR dual-view aerosol optical thickness retrievals with results from various algorithms and instruments

The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) dual-view (ATSRDV) aerosol retrieval algorithm is evaluated for a single scene over Germany (49-53° N, 7-12° E) on 13 October 2005 by comparison of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 550 nm with products from Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), Moderate Resolution Imaging...

Identification of air and sea-surface targets with a laser range profiler

Current coastal operations have to deal with threats at short range in complex environments with both neutral and hostile targets. There is a need for fast identification, which is possible with a laser range profiler. A number of field trials have been conducted to validate the concept of identification with a laser range profile. A laser range...

Intelligent route surveillance

Intelligence on abnormal and suspicious behaviour along roads in operational domains is extremely valuable for countering the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) threat. Local sensor networks at strategic spots can gather data for continuous monitoring of daily vehicle activity. Unattended intelligent ground sensor networks use simple sensing...

Construction of Satellite Derived PM2.5 Maps Using the Relationship between AOD and PM2.5 at the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) - The Netherlands

To acquire daily estimates of PM2.5 distributions based on satellite data one depends critically on a well established relation between AOD and ground level PM2.5. In this study we aimed to experimentally establish the AOD-PM2.5 relationship for the Netherlands. For that purpose an experiment was set-up at the AERONET site Cabauw. The average...

Satellite retrieved aerosol properties for battlespace characterization and sensor performance

Sea basing operations in coastal environments require a rapid and accurate description of the physical conditions in the region. Battlespace characterization and sensor performance assist in optimizing the efficiency and safety of operations, of which the detection of targets at low level above the sea surface is all-important. The environmental...

Comparison between AATSR and MODIS AOD and assimilation in a regional chemistry transport model

An intercomparison study shows a large bias in MODIS total AOD in summer as compared to the AERONET data. Inclusion of MODIS AOD_fine appears to largely solve this bias problem for the assimilation study. Assimilation studies show that the system is able to assimilate AOD. Innovations are significant, mostly due to the underestimation of AOD by...

Development of EO Aerosol Products

Aerosol retrieval work at TNO in the second year of ACCENT was aimed at the further application of AATSR data to extend the data base over Europe with 2003 data, including Mega cities, and its application for data assimilation on the LOTOS model, for the assessment of PM2.5 and radiative forcing. Evaluation of AATSR retrievals with campaign data...

Aerosol optical depth over Europe -Retrieval from ATSR-2 data for the year 2000

Aerosol properties are retrieved from ATSR-2 data (ERS-2 satellite) by utilizing the dual view for application over land and the single view for application over water. These two algorithms have been merged into a fast and efficient algorithm that allows for near real-time processing and which is suitable for operational use. It includes...

Combining ANAM with satellite data to determine the EOSTAR aerosol component

The detection of targets at low levels above the sea surface by electro-optical (EO) sensors is affected by the atmosphere. Models have been developed to describe the electro-optical propagation in the marine atmospheric surface layer as a function of meteorological parameters. EOSTAR is an end-to-end model suite for EO sensor performance in...