Automated Video Screening Techniques for Operator Workload Reduction

Sea clutter, surface traffic, sensor motion, and contact motion can present challenges to an operator monitoring the ASW picture. When multiple sensors enter the operator's scan, it can become extremely difficult to synthesize the information. Different reference frames, resolution, sensor sensitivity, system response, thresholds, can variously lead to confusion when one is observing changes across the displays. This solicitation concerns use of ISAR and FLIR video data for automating detection of events in naval operations in a marine environment. Systems Technology Inc. (STI) proposes the Maritime Recognition and Visualization System (MRVS) as a perceptual and cognitive aid for CV-TSC operators. A unique feature that will be used for tracking and classification is the frequency content of an object"s motion in the water. STI has also developed a method for comparing ISAR and FLIR ship images of near-arbitrary aspect using the geometry of a single ship model. Phase I will lay the foundation for incorporation of Fused Reality with MRVS, which will immerse the user in a 3D virtual operating theater driven by real time events - and allow him/her to obtain any perspective through tracked hand and head motion.