COASTAL SURVEILLANCE

This final report gives an account of a one-year effort performed during FY79 under the Coastal Surveillance Project. The objective of the project was to define the operational and technical parameters and evaluate the performance of equipment which could be used for remote surveillance of harbors and near coastal shallow water areas. The effort consisted of two parts: Problem Definition and Hardware Evaluation. In Problem Definition, contacts were made with technical groups and Coast Guard field units to define applicable technology and Coast Guard needs. This led to the design of a prototype Coastal Surveillance System consisting of four elements: radar, sonobuoy, infrared devices and a radio scanner. In Hardware Evaluation, three devices were selected for test and evaluation: a modified Navy sonobuoy AN/SSQ-41, an Army night vision device AN/TAS-6 and a commercially available thermal imaging system (Pyroelectric Videcon Model 84). Testing of the sonobuoy system was conducted at three locations with different depth and bottom topography. Detection ranges of three different size target vessels at three different speeds were determined when the vessel proceeded toward the sonobuoy ('acquisition' range) and when it receded from the buoy ('loss' range). For initial planning estimates and feasibility studies, a detection range of 1500 yards is recommended for the sonobuoy. The AN/TAS-6 night vision device has good potential as a coastal surveillance device while the Pyroelectric Videcon was found to hold little promise for coastal surveillance use.

• Corporate Authors:

  Coast Guard

  Office of Research and Development
  Washington, DC  United States 

  United States Coast Guard

  2100 Second Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20593
• Authors:
  • Chen, L H
  • Lincoln, W B
  • Dugan, R F
• Publication Date: 1980-4-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 34 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automatic tracking; Coasts; Depth; Feasibility analysis; Harbors; Infrared detectors; Night vision; Night vision devices; Oceans; Optical devices; Radar images; Range (Vehicles); Surveillance
• Identifier Terms: United States Coast Guard
• Uncontrolled Terms: Coastal regions; Intrusion detection; Shallow water
• Old TRIS Terms: Bearing direction; Ocean surveillance; Range distance; Sonobuoys
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00328218
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: CGR/DC-11/80, USCG-D-45-80
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: Mar 12 2003 12:00AM