Integration of Hfsw Radar and Ais Data: Ship Detection and Classification

This paper focuses on the possibility of combining Automatic Identification System (AIS) and High-Frequency Surface-Wave Radar (HFSWR) data for vessel detection, tracking and classification purposes. The test based on the Normalized Adaptive Matched Filter (NAMF) is applied for target detection in compound-Gaussian HF sea clutter. The unknown clutter covariance matrix is evaluated by means of three adaptive estimators. The detection algorithms are described and their performances evaluated based on data recorded in the Bay of Brest, France. Finally, the combined use of AIS plots provided by cooperative targets allows to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithms and to discriminate uncooperative targets and possible threats.