Data Fusion Handoff

There are many applications in which target tracking systems rely on multiple sensors to track objects over long durations to achieve situational awareness. In particular, Naval missions, such as those that support Maritime Domain Awareness, rely on a collection of sensors that typically have disjoint coverage. The objective of such a system is continuous tracking of surface vessels. across large geographical regions. Suppose a vessel is tracked while in the field-of-view (FOV) of a particular sensor. The vessel leaves the FOV of that sensor and, after a time gap, enters the FOV of a second sensor. While the vessel will be tracked upon entering the FOV of the second sensor, any intelligence gathered on that vessel prior to the coverage gap will be lost unless the system correctly recognizes that the vessel is the same vessel that left the first sensor's FOV and entered the second sensor's FOV. Toyon Research proposes to develop a collection of algorithms to support both the decentralized communication and fusion required by such a sensor network in order to maintain a constant track ID on any particular vessel. Toyon will demonstrate the system in a simulated scenario defined in cooperation with Navy personnel.