Surveillance of Ship Security Perimeter While in Port

"This SBIR is concerned with using remote sensors to enhance the performance of security forces protecting Navy ships while docked in port. The use of remote sensing systems for area surveillance can greatly complement the performance of human sentries.Current remote systems rely primarily on video and infrared sensors. Specific weaknesses of these systems include high false alarm rates, limited detection ranges (especially for stealthy intruders), and a lack of automatic threat localization andtracking. We propose the introduction of acoustic sensing to these systems with the goal of having the additional sensor type improve detection performance and provide additional information that contributes to the reduction of false alarms. The thrust ofthis proposal is to study, evaluate, and demonstrate the performance that can be provided by using acoustic sensors as part of an area surveillance system. This innovation will provide significant improvement in the detection and localization of stealthyintruders from both dock-side and water-side, as well as provide a dramatic reduction in the number of false contacts that need to be investigated. Effective ship security while in-port can be applied not only to military ships but also to commercial shipscontaining flammable or explosive cargo (e.g., liquefied natural gas, crude oil). Effective perimeter security is also applicable to buildings, military installations and manufacturing faciliti