We describe a fibre-optic hydrophone array system architecture that can be tailored to meet the underwater acoustic surveillance requirements of the military, counter terrorist and customs authorities in protecting ports and harbours, offshore production facilities or coastal approaches. Physically the fibre-optic hydrophone array is in the form of a lightweight cable, enabling rapid deployment from a small vessel. Based upon an optical architecture of time and wavelength multiplexed interferometric hydrophones, the array is comprised of a series of hydrophone sub-arrays. Using multiple sub-arrays, extended perimeters many tens of kilometres in length can be monitored. Interrogated via a long (~50km) optical fibre data link, the acoustic date is processed using the latest open architecture sonar processing platform, ensuring that acoustic targets below, on and above the surface are detected, tracked and classified. Results obtained from an at sea trial of a 96-channel hydrophone array are given, showing the passive detection and tracking of a diver, small surface craft and big ocean going ships beyond the horizon. Furthermore, we describe how the OptaMarine fibre-optic hydrophone array fits into an integrated multi-layered approach to port and harbour security consisting of active sonar for diver detection and hull imaging, as well as thermal imaging and CCTV for surface monitoring. Finally, we briefly describe a complimentary land perimeter intruder detection system consisting of an array of fibre optic accelerometers.

Port protection can be enhanced with the establishment of a dedicated shallow-water testbed to evaluate new acoustic and light-based technologies. Efforts are underway at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center to create the Gould Island Acoustic Observatory in Narragansett Bay, capable of validating emerging security technologies. The immediate goal is to obtain long-duration, continuous, real-time monitoring of detection performance against various threats (surface craft, AUVs, divers) in a relatively harsh, shallow water environment. Time-variant observables from various technologies will be obtained, typically as wideband time series data, with synopticity of ambient oceanographic data (wind and waves, sound speed, internal waves, tidal mixing, turbulence, optics). This data will be made available, via secure intranet connections, to government, industry, and university researchers. The long term goal is to validate new technologies and appropriate signal processing algorithms, using data collected from a well-characterized shallow water environment.

A new kind of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) infrared beacon has been demonstrated. The omni-directional beacon consists of a pyramidal array of 1W pulsIR thermal light sources. Operating at a total power of 84W, the beacon can be used to track and identify surface vehicles and personnel with a recognition range of up to 6 miles on the battlefield and in urban environments or the marine boundary layer. Advanced photonic technology enables the beacon to be seen only while using a 3-5 μm or 8-12 μm thermal imaging system. There is no visible or near-IR emission to betray the location of the beacon. The beacon is rugged and will operate from -40 to 50°C ambient temperature, 0-100% relative humidity, 0 - 10,000 ft altitude, and meets MIL-STD 810F and MIL-STD 461E.

This paper presents an R&D framework used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for biometric technology testing and evaluation. The focus of this paper is on fingerprint-based verification and identification. Since 9-11 the NIST Image Group has been mandated by Congress to run a program for biometric technology assessment and biometric systems certification. Four essential areas of activity are discussed: 1) developing test datasets, 2) conducting performance assessment; 3) technology development; and 4) standards participation. A description of activities and accomplishments are provided for each of these areas. In the process, methods of performance testing are described and results from specific biometric technology evaluations are presented. This framework is anticipated to have broad applicability to other technology and application domains.

Emerging biosensor approaches may prove useful in reducing false positives and improving detection probabilities for unexploded ordnance (UXO) and underwater explosives. NRL researchers previously developed a biosensor that was field-tested and validated for use in environmental remediation to detect explosives in groundwater. The sensor relies on the selective recognition by antibodies of target analytes, including the common explosives TNT and RDX. Laboratory work has demonstrated that sensors based on these displacement immunoassay formats can detect explosives at the part-per-trillion level in seawater. More recently, participating in an Office of Naval Research program on Chemical Sensing in the Marine Environment (CSME), tests were conducted in controlled underwater experiments at San Clemente, CA and Duck, NC. Simulated UXO targets, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and multiple sensor approaches were used to demonstrate the feasibility of underwater chemical sensing. Efforts are now underway to integrate the biosensor into an underwater platform as part of a broader sensor system. We will describe results of these studies and outline possible operational scenarios for applications in harbor security.

There are 361 ports of interest to the US Coast Guard regarding homeland security issues. Speed and accuracy of inspections there for “foreign objects” is critical to maintaining the flow of commerce through these ports. A fusion of acoustic and optical imaging technologies has been implemented to rapidly locate anomalies acoustically and inspect them optically. Results of field tests are presented. Effective deployment of AUV- or ROV-mounted optical sensors to inspect ship hulls and port facilities will depend on accurate, real-time prediction of the sub-surface optical environment and upon accurate sensor models parameterized for the time and place of inspection. For bi-static laser-line scanner sensors such as the Real-time Ocean Bottom Optical Topographer (ROBOT), ambient light decreases the range to the inspection object (e.g. hull) for which laser-line contrast is adequate for ranging and imaging in 3-D. Reduced range implies narrower swaths and longer inspection times. A 2-D and 3-D hybrid marine optical model (HyMOM) of the environment beneath ships or adjacent to sea walls and pilings has been developed, applied and validated in eutrophic and mesotrophic settings, and a Monte Carlo sensor model of ROBOT has been developed. Both are discussed and combined to evaluate sensor performance in different environments. To provide the inherent optical properties needed to run such models, data from the Autonomous Marine Optical System (AMOS) were collected and transmitted back to the laboratory. Examples of AMOS results and model outputs are presented.

We present results from trials of the LUCIE 2 (Laser Underwater Camera Image Enhancer) conducted in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada and Esquimalt Harbor, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. LUCIE 2 is a new compact laser range gated camera (10 inches in diameter, 24 inches in length, and neutrally buoyant in water) originally designed to improve search and recovery operations under eye safe restrictions. The flexibility and eye safety of this second generation LUCIE makes it a tool for improved hull searches and force protection operations when divers are in the water attempting to identify bottom lying objects. The camera is equipped with a full image geo-positioning system. To cover various environmental and targets size conditions, the gate-delay, gate width, polarization and viewing and illuminating angles can be varied as well. We present an analysis on the performance of the system in various water conditions using several target types and a comparison with diver and camera identification. Coincident in-situ optical properties of absorption and scattering were taken to help resolve the environmental information contained in the LUCIE image. Several new capabilities are currently being designed and tested, among them a differential polarization imaging system, a stabilized line of sight system with step-stare capability for high resolution mosaic area coverage, a precision dimensioning system and a diver guided and operated version.

An appropriate determination of water clarity is required by defense and security operations assessing subsurface threats compromising harbor and coastal security. For search and inspection operations involving divers, underwater imaging, and electro-optical identification (EOID) systems such as laser line-scanners, the key environmental parameter needed is the optical attenuation coefficient (directly related to diver visibility). To address this need, a scattering-attenuation meter (SAM) measuring attenuation and diver visibility was developed for integration on new compact surveying platforms such as ROVs and the REMUS and glider AUVs. The sensor is compact (18X8X6 cm³), low power, robust, and hydrodynamic with a flat sensing face. The SAM measures attenuation using a novel dual-scattering approach that solves the paradox of making high-resolution attenuation measurements over the long pathlengths required for natural waters with a compact sensor. Attenuation and visibility data is presented from San Diego harbor in coordination with video images of bottom topography collected with a REMUS vehicle, from around New York harbor with a SAM mounted in an autonomous Slocum glider, and from Narragansett Bay. Results show that 1) visibility and/or attenuation in harbor and coastal regions can change rapidly over small scales (meters), especially near the bottom, 2) turbid bottom nepheloid layers are common, 3) typical visibility and/or attenuation levels fall in a range where knowledge of visibility and/or attenuation can be essential in the decision making process for security operations, and 4) attenuation is a significantly more accurate proxy for diver visibility than backscattering.

Bioluminescence emitted from marine organisms upon mechanical stimulation is an obvious military interest, as it provides a low-tech method of identifying surface and subsurface vehicles and swimmer tracks. Clearly, the development of a passive method of identifying hostile ships, submarines, and swimmers, as well as the development of strategies to reduce the risk of detection by hostile forces is relevant to Naval operations and homeland security. The measurement of bioluminescence in coastal waters has only recently received attention as the platforms and sensors were not scaled for the inherent small-scale nature of nearshore environments. In addition to marine forcing, many ports and harbors are influenced by freshwater inputs, differential density layering and higher turbidity. The spatial and temporal fluctuations of these optical water types overlaid on changes in the bioluminescence potential make these areas uniquely complex. The development of an autonomous underwater vehicle with a bioluminescence capability allows measurements on sub-centimeter horizontal and vertical scales in shallow waters and provides the means to map the potential for detection of moving surface or subsurface objects. A deployment in San Diego Bay shows the influence of tides on the distribution of optical water types and the distribution of bioluminescent organisms. Here, these data are combined to comment on the potential for threat reduction in ports and harbors.

A comprehensive threat detection system is needed to protect critical assets and infrastructure in the nation's harbors. Such a system must necessarily rely on a variety of sensor technologies to provide protection against airborne, submerged, and surface threats. Although many threats can be detected with current technology, which include sonar, radar, visible light, and infrared sensors, there is a substantive gap in harbor defense against quiet surface intruders such as swimmers. This threat cannot be reliably detected with current sensors. Waves and chop occlude visual detection and render sonar blind to relatively small surface objects. The dark of night is also sufficient to defeat visible light detection methods. Wetsuit materials are available that minimize the infrared signature, matching the surrounding water temperature while cloaking the body's heat. However, a range-gated lidar sensor can be used to detect the signature of the swimmer's shadow, which appears impossible to conceal because it depends only on the opaqueness of the swimmer’s body to visible light. A spatially diffuse laser pulse of short duration is used to illuminate an area of interest. The photons are forward scattered in the water, and effectively illuminate the water to an appreciable depth. By range-gated imaging of the water column beneath the swimmer, the absence of backscattered photons is manifested as a shadow in the sensor image and easily detected with existing image processing algorithms. Lidar technology can therefore close the sensor gap, complementing existing systems and providing greater security coverage. The technology has been successfully demonstrated in the detection of moored and floating sea mines, and is readily scaled to a harbor defense system consisting of a network of imaging lidars.

Diver visibility analyses and predictions, and water transparency in general, are of significant military and commercial interest. This is especially true in our current state, where ports and harbors are vulnerable to terrorist attacks from a variety of platforms both on and below the water (swimmers, divers, AUVs, ships, submarines, etc.). Aircraft hyperspectral imagery has been previously used successfully to classify coastal bottom types and map bathymetry and it is time to transition this observational tool to harbor and port security. Hyperspectral imagery is ideally suited for monitoring small-scale features and processes in these optically complex waters, because of its enhanced spectral (1-3 nm) and spatial (1-3 meters) resolutions. Under an existing NOAA project (CICORE), a field experiment was carried out (November 2004) in coordination with airborne hyperspectral ocean color overflights to develop methods and models for relating hyperspectral remote sensing reflectances to water transparency and diver visibility in San Pedro and San Diego Bays. These bays were focused areas because: (1) San Pedro harbor, with its ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is the busiest port in the U.S. and ranks 3^rd in the world and (2) San Diego Harbor is one of the largest Naval ports, serving a diverse mix of commercial, recreational and military traffic, including more than 190 cruise ships annual. Maintaining harbor and port security has added complexity for these Southern California bays, because of the close proximity to the Mexican border. We will present in situ optical data and hyperspectral aircraft ocean color imagery from these two bays and compare and contrast the differences and similarities. This preliminary data will then be used to discuss how water transparency and diver visibility predictions improve harbor and port security.

A remote, aerial, laser-based sonar method for detecting and locating underwater targets from the air is discussed. The aerial sonar system combines two independent laser technologies. First, a high power laser is used to remotely generate underwater sound from the air by converting the optical energy into an acoustic pressure wave at the water surface. Second, a low power laser monitors water surface vibrations to detect and localize underwater sound. The aerial (opto-acoustic) generation and (acousto-optic) detection of underwater sound provides a non-contact means for active and passive sonar that does not currently exist. The laser systems could be mounted on an in-air or an above surface platform to search an area to provide intelligence information about the presence and location of underwater objects. Such data could be used for targeting for air-dropped munitions, port defense by monitoring friendly waters, or for area clearance for fleet operations in foreign ports. This transformational capability offers a covert, rapidly deployable, highly distributed, sensor field along the water surface.

Modeled hyperspectral reflectance signatures just above the water surface are obtained from radiative transfer models to create synthetic images of targets below the water surface. Images are displayed as 24 bit RGB images of the water surface using selected channels. Example model outputs are presented in this paper for a hyperspectral Monte Carlo and a hyperspectral layered analytical iterative model of radiative transport within turbid shallow water types. Images at the selected wavelengths or channels centered at 490, 530 and 680 nm suggests the two models provide quite similar results when displayed as RGB images. The techniques are demonstrated to the problem of extracting synthetic targets from hyperspectral synthetic images in the presence of water surface wave, using spectral wave models. The most sensitive parameters for generating realistic images are water depth and bottom reflectance in clean natural and optically shallow waters. Also presented are platforms for use in ports, harbors, inlets and waterways developed and designed for current and future monitoring to insure sustainable safe shallow water environments.

Bioluminescence is an environmental factor which can significantly impact the detection of Naval Forces in the field and in port. Similarly, bioluminescence visualization at night can help locate divers and fast boats in areas where they might pose a threat to Naval and metropolitan high value assets. Coastal waters accumulate large populations of bioluminescent organisms making transit of personnel and vehicles through this zone susceptible to detection by the unaided dark adapted eye and low light level intensified camera systems. Consequently, there is a need for measuring coastal bioluminescence on a routine continuous basis to aid in maritime protection and alerting homeland security personnel to submerged and transiting targets in real time during the hours of darkness. The challenge is to assess the bioluminescence levels (levels of detection) within areas of concern on a continuing basis. SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego has developed and tested autonomous buoys (BioBuoy) to measure the intensity of bioluminescence, water clarity, and temperature which permits operators to know when targets will be visible at night. The integration of the buoy system with an automated image intensification camera system would actually locate the potential target for interdiction.

Data from a recent “first-look” at using Long Wave InfraRed Imaging Polarimetry (LWIR-IP) to detect surface swimmers is presented and discussed. A significant increase in detection SNR over conventional IR imaging techniques was discovered. The physical phenomena that produces the increased SNR is discussed along with data that shows range effects and their degradation on the SNR. Most significantly, a method to classify the detected object using the same dataset is discussed. Augmenting current swimmer detection systems using this technique will likely significantly decrease the false alarm rates of the system, thus saving manpower resources and preserving force readiness.

The terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum is typically defined in the frequency range 100 GHz to 10 THz, corresponding to a wavelength range of 3 mm to 30 microns. The millimetre wave region lies between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, corresponding to a wavelength range of 10 cm to 1 mm and overlaps a portion of the terahertz region. Following the development of coherent sources and detectors in the early eighties, there has been growing interest in the role of terahertz technology for security and defence. The terahertz region offers a huge expanse of unused bandwidth, which currently presents a significant advantage for both security and defense initiatives. The ability of terahertz radiation to probe intermolecular interactions, large amplitude vibrations and rotational modes, in addition to showing polarization sensitivity makes terahertz radiation a unique and diverse region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The additional ability of both terahertz and millimeter wave radiation to 'see through' common materials, such as thick smoke, fog and dust, which are often considered as opaque in other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum offers further advantages over other optical techniques. Due to the heavy attenuation of terahertz radiation by water vapour, millimeter wave technology is more suited for long range, all-weather imaging systems, whereas terahertz technology has more potential for high resolution short range imaging and spectroscopy. The potential of terahertz and millimetre wave technology and their associated potential for port and harbour security initiatives are discussed.

Electro-optical (EO) systems with digital image processing and computer-aided detection are increasingly coming into use for maritime surveillance, reconnaissance and search and rescue. EO systems have the potential to improve the consistency of detection, reduce operator workload and fatigue, and improve search efficiency. However, quantifying their performance versus more traditional approaches is problematic, because of the differences in how performance is specified for traditional systems versus modern computer-aided designs. In maritime search applications, system performance is commonly specified in terms of the lateral range curve (LRC). The LRC is a plot of the probability of detection versus horizontal range from the search platform. This metric has a long history, rooted in visual searches by trained human observers. However, it is specified without reference to any false-alarm rate or probability of false alarm. Computer-aided EO performance, on the other hand, is usually specified in terms of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, or some equivalent metric. In this paper, we demonstrate a methodology for estimating LRCs from SNRs or ROC curves. This methodology provides a consistent, quantifiable means for comparing the performance of new and legacy systems.

Advanced Optical Systems, Inc. has developed the ULTOR system, a compact, high-speed optical processor that performs object recognition and precision tracking in real time for real-world applications by using data from imaging sensors. The heart of the ULTOR target recognition and tracking system is an optical correlator. The system includes real-time preprocessing, large filter stores, filter management logic, correlation detection and thresholding, correlation tracking, and data output. It is self contained, receiving operational commands as an Internet appliance. We have performed various laboratory and field experiments to verify the performance of the ULTOR system in a maritime environment. The experiments cover tracking specific objects in video clips to demonstrating real-time ULTOR system performance on the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The selected objects in the experiments include individual people, wave runners, boats, and ships. The paper will present a description of the ULTOR system and the results of the experiments. The latest processor advancements will be presented. These advancements will include ruggedization, algorithm development, and new operational methodologies.

The container ship yard is brighten by the lighting, but after Sunset of the sea side is dark during a crescent. On the sea side lighting, we propose to use to patrol car loaded Xenon search light. Generally, the Pacific Ocean of a surface of the sea swimming fishes such as Samma (Mackerel pike) likes strong visible light as a Xenon search light beam. In the feeling of the human eyes and brains with a strong visible light beam such as Xenon search light, the reaction is divided two kind of types, to avoid reaction's humans have a feeling that bad conscience, and no reaction's humans tend to have a feeling of good mind. For the black painted unmanned objects of visible watching is needed as possible as strong visible light beam of the Xenon search light. The optical system of the Xenon search light consists of a Xenon lamp, a parabolic mirror and the filters.