Evaluating deep semantic segmentation networks for object detection in maritime surveillance

Maritime surveillance is important for applications in safety and security, but the visual detection of objects in maritime scenes remains challenging due to the diverse and unconstrained nature of such environments, and the need to operate in near real-time. Recent work on deep neural networks for semantic segmentation has achieved good performance in the road/urban scene parsing task. Driven by the potential application in autonomous vehicle navigation, many of the architectures are designed to be fast and lightweight. In this paper, we evaluate semantic segmentation networks in the context of an object detection system for maritime surveillance. Using data from the ADE20k scene parsing dataset, we train a selection of recent semantic segmentation network architectures to compare their performance on a number of publicly available maritime surveillance datasets

A new model for EEZ surveillance and management in Portugal

Management Information Systems 2000, p. 103-111Portugal has an EEZ of 1.6 million square kilometres. The importance of the EEZ is primarily related to economic activities such as fisheries and tourism, and eventually offshore mining; but also to broader issues such as environment, internal security and geo-strategy. Maritime surveillance is a keystone for the control of the EEZ. The authors discuss strengths and flaws of the Portuguese maritime surveillance scheme, plus opportunities for better management of the EEZ. Maritime surveillance has not been a priority in Portugal, hence available means are insufficient; the responsibilities of a maritime authority are distributed among several institutions, relatively low on State hierarchy and with inadequate co-ordination. Although the essential functions of a maritime authority are performed, efficiency is poor and existing means are not used to full capacity. EEZ management exists only as desegregated policies. The authors adopt the twin concepts of the integrated management for the EEZ; and the Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) for the maritime surveillance. A model is proposed to integrate such concepts into the new VTMIS (Vessel Traffic Management Information Services) about to be implemented in Portugal. This should improve the VTMIS and the efficiency of other means of maritime surveillance and management. The new system should have a strong geographical information component and the capability to integrate on-line information from many sources (such as land-based radar, port information, satellite imagery, military and police routine surveillance, international databases and mathematical modelling, among others). Such information would then be used for a number of tasks, including environmental protection and natural resources management in the EEZ. The paper discusses the desirable specifications for such a system and its link with existing and future institutional arrangements in Portugal

An eye on the sea

This booklet describes JRC activities related to the use of satellite images for fisheries, maritime surveillance and ocean colours.JRC.A.6-Communicatio

Computationally effective range migration compensation in PCL systems for maritime surveillance

In this paper, we consider the possibility of extending the coherent processing interval (CPI) as a way to improve target detection capability in passive radars for maritime surveillance applications. Despite the low velocity of the considered targets, range walk effects could limit the performance of the system when long CPIs are considered. To overcome these limitations while keeping the computational load controlled, we resort to a sub-optimal implementation of the Keystone Transform (KT), based on Lagrange polynomial interpolation, recently presented by the authors and successfully applied against aerial targets. Following those promising results, we extend the proposed approach to a coastal surveillance scenario. In the considered case, since longer CPI values are used, the proposed strategy appears to be even more attractive with respect to a conventional KT implementation based on the Chirp-Z Transform interpolation. In fact, comparable detection performance are obtained with a remarkable computational load saving. In detail, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated against experimental data provided by Leonardo S.p.A., using a DVB-T based passive radar

JRC - Alenia Aeronautica Coupled UAS and Spaceborne SAR Campaign in Italy

The European maritime area is one of Europe’s most important assets with regard to resources, security and ultimately prosperity of the Member States. A significant part of Europe’s economy relies directly or indirectly on it. It is not just the shipping or fisheries industries and their related activities. It is also shipbuilding and ports, marine equipment and offshore energy, maritime and coastal tourism, aquaculture, submarine telecommunications, blue biotech and the protection of the marine environment. The European maritime area faces several risks and threats posed by unlawful activities, such as drugs trafficking, smuggling, illegal immigration, organised crime and terrorism. Piracy in international waters also constitutes a threat to Europe since it can disrupt the maritime transport chain. These risks and threats can endanger human lives, marine resources and the environment, as well as significantly disrupt the transport chain and global and local security. It is anticipated that these risks and threats will endure in the mid and long run. In order to keep Europe as a world leader in the global maritime economy, an effective integrated/interoperable, sustainable maritime surveillance system and situational awareness are needed. A significant number of unlawful maritime activities, such as illegal immigration, drugs trafficking, smuggling, piracy and terrorism involve mainly small boats, because small boats are faster and more difficult to detect using conventional means. Hence, it is very important to find out the feasibility of using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for small boat detection, tracking, classification and identification, as well as to study the potential of UAS for maritime surveillance. Since 2010 the EC-JRC has carried out a number of UAS maritime surveillance campaigns to study the potential of UAS for maritime surveillance, in particular for small boat detection. This report presents the results and conclusions of the JRC - Alenia Aeronautica Coupled UAS and Spaceborne SAR campaign carried out in Oct. 2010 in Porto Corallo, Sardinia, Italy.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair

JRC – Elbit Systems Coupled UAS and Spaceborne SAR Campaign in Israel

The European maritime area is one of Europe’s most important assets with regard to resources, security and ultimately prosperity of the Member States. A significant part of Europe’s economy relies directly or indirectly on it. It is not just the shipping or fisheries industries and their related activities. It is also shipbuilding and ports, marine equipment and offshore energy, maritime and coastal tourism, aquaculture, submarine telecommunications, blue biotech and the protection of the marine environment. The European maritime area faces several risks and threats posed by unlawful activities, such as drugs trafficking, smuggling, illegal immigration, organised crime and terrorism. Piracy in international waters also constitutes a threat to Europe since it can disrupt the maritime transport chain. These risks and threats can endanger human lives, marine resources and the environment, as well as significantly disrupt the transport chain and global and local security. It is anticipated that these risks and threats will endure in the mid and long run. In order to keep Europe as a world leader in the global maritime economy, an effective integrated/interoperable, sustainable maritime surveillance system and situational awareness are needed. A significant number of unlawful maritime activities, such as illegal immigration, drugs trafficking, smuggling, piracy and terrorism involve mainly small boats, because small boats are faster and more difficult to detect using conventional means. Hence, it is very important to find out the feasibility of using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for small boat detection, tracking, classification and identification, as well as to study the potential of UAS for maritime surveillance. Since 2010 the EC-JRC has carried out a number of UAS maritime surveillance campaigns to study the potential of UAS for maritime surveillance, in particular for small boat detection. This report presents the results and conclusions of the JRC – Elbit Systems Coupled UAS and Spaceborne SAR campaign carried out in Dec. 2010 in Haifa, Israel.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair