Identification and characterization of a cost-effective combination of systems for Arctic surveillance: The Northern Watch project

Abstract

This thesis discusses a new stream of research and analysis which will form part of the Northern Watch Technology Demonstration project. The objective of the thesis is to develop and illustrate a procedure for identifying and characterizing combinations of sensors and systems that will provide cost-effective options for Arctic maritime surveillance. A ship detection simulation is constructed, the results of which are used to produce a set of ranked options for combinations of sensors used to conduct maritime surveillance at a strategic choke point located at the Barrow Strait, in Canada's Northwest Passage. The overall objective of the surveillance is to improve on the detection, classification, and identification of maritime vessels. The modeled performance and effectiveness of each sensor is evaluated in relation to the multiple objectives using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to rank alternative sensor effectiveness and performance. The results indicate that the most cost-effective solution is to install an Automatic Identification System (AIS) sensor at the Northern Watch station. However, due to practical concerns, alternatives to this approach are presented and discussed.