Transit detection in the ocean: Some methods and criteria

The technical problem addressed in this report is the passive detection of noise-like signals in the non-stationary noise and interference typical of the ocean environment. Applications could include the counting of ships entering or leaving a harbor, or transiting by some point of interest perhaps in harbor traffic control situations. This class of remote sensing application might require the deployment of many compact, self contained systems that are infrequently interrogated or that relay the transit data to other platforms at infrequent intervals. Thus, the detection problem could be compounded by system level considerations such as cost, environmental integrity, volume and operational lifetime. It is in this context that the above technical problem is addressed.