Robots drones to spot the pirate boats
Robot drones are to help in the anti-piracy fight as they will soon be able to distinguish small pirate boats from other vessels, solving a problem for operators who must try to tell the difference in congested waters.
A robotic helicopter called Fire Scout is to help test a new system called the Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS). It is a mix of high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and laser-radar (LADAR) technology. Carrying advanced automatic target recognition software, the sensor prototype will allow Fire Scout to autonomously identify small boats on the water, reducing the workload for sailors operating it from control stations aboard US Navy ships.
“Sailors who control robotic systems can become overloaded with data, often sifting through hours of streaming video searching for a single ship”, explained Ken Heeke of the US Office of Naval Research. The automatic target recognition software can distinguish target boats in congested coastal waters using LADAR, sending information to human operators who can then analyse those vessels in a 3D picture.
Navy developed target recognition algorithms will exploit the 3D data utilising a long-range, high resolution, eye safe laser. The software compares the imagery to vessel templates or schematics stored in the system’s memory.
“The 3D data gives you a leg up on target identification, said Dean Cook of the Naval Air Warfare Centre Weapons Division (NAWCWD). “Infrared and visible cameras produce 2D pictures, and objects in them can be difficult to automatically identify. With LADAR data, each pixel corresponds to a 3D point in space, so the automatic target recognition algorithm can calculate the dimensions of an object and compare them to those in a database.”
The algorithms have been successfully tested in shore based systems against vessels at sea. The software is being integrated into a BRITE Star II turret by a team from NAWCWD, Raytheon, FLIR Systems, BAE Systems and Utah State University for airborne testing aboard a manned test helicopter. The flight assessment will be conducted against groups of approximately seven small boats in a military sea range off the California coast later this summer.
