Integrating marine radar in a multi-sensor platform for remote, unsupervised vessel tracking in the nearshore environment

Cope, Samantha; Zetterlind, Virgil; Tougher, Brendan

doi:10.1109/ieeeconf38699.2020.9389460

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…A model developed by machine learning, a technique helpful for analyzing vessel tracks [74,75], uses track statistics to calculate a confidence score between 0 and 1, with higher scores indicating those tracks more likely to be vessels. See [76] for a full description of the process. The confidence score is stored as a track statistic and can be used to classify and isolate only those radar tracks predicted to be true vessels.…”

Section: Track Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Cope¹,

Tougher²,

Zetterlind³

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

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Monitoring vessel activity is an important part of managing marine protected areas (MPAs), but small-scale fishing and recreational vessels that do not participate in cooperative vessel traffic systems require additional monitoring strategies. Marine Monitor (M2) is a shore-based, multi-sensor platform that integrates commercially available hardware, primarily X-band marine radar and optical cameras, with custom software to autonomously track and report on vessel activity regardless of participation in other tracking systems. By utilizing established commercial hardware, the radar system is appropriate for supporting the management of coastal, small-scale MPAs. Data collected in the field are transferred to the cloud to provide a continuous record of activity and identify prohibited activities in real-time using behavior characteristics. To support the needs of MPA managers, both hardware and software improvements have been made over time, including ruggedizing equipment for the marine environment and powering systems in remote locations. Case studies are presented comparing data collection by both radar and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) in urban and remote locations. At the South La Jolla State Marine Reserve near San Diego, CA, USA, 93% of vessel activity (defined as the cumulative time vessels spent in the MPA) was identified exclusively by radar from November 2022 through January 2023. At the Caye Bokel Conservation Area, within the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve offshore of Belize, 98% was identified exclusively by radar from April through October 2022. Spatial and temporal patterns of radar-detected and AIS activity also differed at both sites. These case study site results together demonstrate the common and persistent presence of small-scale vessel activity near coastal MPAs that is not documented by cooperative systems. Therefore, an integrated radar system can be a useful tool for independent monitoring, supporting a comprehensive understanding of vessel activity in a variety of areas.

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Section: Track Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The confidence score is stored as a track statistic and can be used to classify and isolate only those radar tracks predicted to be true vessels. Tracks are typically classified with greater than 90% accuracy [76,77].…”

Section: Track Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Cope¹,

Tougher²,

Zetterlind³

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Finally, likely false targets caused by sea clutter and weather events, a common issue with data collected via marine radar [50], were removed from consideration using machine learning, a tool that has been used to classify trajectory patterns of fishing behavior [51,52]. Following the process described in [53], ground truthed M2 tracks were used to train and tune a model which classified all track records as true vessels or false targets. An accuracy assessment showed that 95% of sample records were classified correctly.…”

Section: Vessel Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coastal radar as a tool for continuous and fine-scale monitoring of vessel activities of interest in the vicinity of marine protected areas

Cope¹,

Tougher²,

Morten

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely utilized for conservation of the world’s marine resources. Yet, compliance with MPA regulations remains difficult to measure because of limits to human resources and a lack of affordable technologies to automate monitoring over time. The Marine Monitor, an autonomous vessel monitoring, recording, and reporting system leveraging commercial off-the-shelf X-band marine radar to detect and track vessels, was used to monitor five nearshore California MPAs simultaneously and continuously to identify and compare site-specific use patterns over one year. Vessel tracks were classified into two movement patterns to capture likely fishing activity, “focal” or “linear”, that corresponded with local targeted species. Some illegal fishing potentially occurred at all sites (7–17% of tracks depending on site) most frequently on weekends and at mid-day, but the majority of activity occurred just outside the MPAs and in the near vicinity suggesting both a high level of compliance with regulations and awareness of MPA boundaries. Time spent engaged in potential fishing activity compared to track counts suggests that unique vessels may spend more time fishing inside area boundaries at some sites than others. The spatial distribution of activity shows distinct concentrations near MPA boundaries at all sites which strongly suggests vessels purposefully target the narrow area at the MPA boundary or “fish the line”, a potential acknowledgement of successful spillover. This activity increased significantly during some local fishing seasons. Concentration of activity at MPA boundaries highlights the importance of continuous monitoring at a high spatial and temporal resolution. Reporting of vessel behavior at a fine-scale using radar can help resource managers target enforcement efforts and understand human use patterns near coastal MPAs.

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An Underwater Multisensor Multitarget Tracking Algorithm Based on Particle Filter

Qi,

Sun,

Zou

et al. 2024

2024 OES China Ocean Acoustics (COA)

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Integrating marine radar in a multi-sensor platform for remote, unsupervised vessel tracking in the nearshore environment

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Coastal radar as a tool for continuous and fine-scale monitoring of vessel activities of interest in the vicinity of marine protected areas

An Underwater Multisensor Multitarget Tracking Algorithm Based on Particle Filter

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