Maritime surveillance with multiple over-the-horizon HFSW radars: an overview of recent experimentation

Abstract

This paper briefly explores the high-frequency surface-wave (HFSW) radar technology in general, and Wellen radar (WERA) in more detail. Then it describes the multitarget tracking data fusion (MTTDF) network architecture developed at Science and Technology Organization (STO) Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) and discusses its capabilities in two real study cases: the first in the Ligurian Sea, Mediterranean [11]-[13], and a second in the German Bight, North Sea [14], [15]. In both cases, the main task of the HFSW radars is to estimate sea surface currents. In the second study case, the data recorded by the single stations are sent directly to the Centre's Data Base (DB) and then processed in real-time. The historical information about ship traffic can be exploited not only for assessing system performance, but also in the field of knowledge-based (KB) tracking, for improving system capabilities. In this sense, simulation results are presented and discussed. Finally, a tool developed at STO CMRE, the socalled maritime situational awareness (MSA) viewer, allows displaying from the operator's point of view the maritime picture of the surveyed area.