Modern electro-optical imaging system for maritime surveillance applications

Asymmetric attacks against maritime platforms often emerge suddenly, non-predictably and from civil environments. Adequate reaction to intercept possible threats requires a quick and overall perception of the emerging situation. For this purpose close-in range surveillance systems capable of day- and night imaging can provide powerful support with respect of enhancing operator´s situational awareness and therefore platform security. We report here on a two-stage concept for a maritime surveillance system. A staring wide area sensor package equipped with uncooled infrared sensors is intended to continuously provide high quality imagery of the platform surrounding. The image data is permanently evaluated using signal processing algorithms particularly suited for the detection of potentially asymmetric threats in maritime environments. In case of threat detection an alarm is generated automatically. In a second step, objects found in the ships vicinity are verified by an electro-optical sensor platform possessing higher resolution and sufficient agility for multi-target tracking. The components of the sensor suite including the staring wide area surveillance sensor, the agile electro-optical sensor platform and the processing cabinet are connected via Ethernet. Both, fully autonomous operation of the sensor suite with stand-alone HMI capability as well as integration into an existing combat management system are possible. The system provides robustness against maritime environmental conditions and requires little maintenance and is suited for integration to military and civil maritime platforms.