Oceanographic HF surface-wave radars for maritime surveillance in the German Bight

In maritime surveillance systems, providing realtime, clear and accurate pictures of wide areas is essential for the human decision-making process. In such a context, oceanographic high-frequency surface-wave (HFSW) radars could be cost-effective sensors for long-range early-warning ship detection and tracking. In this paper, multi-target tracking and data fusion techniques are applied to real data recorded by three low-power HFSW radars installed in the German Bight of the North Sea. Ship reports from the automatic identification system (AIS) are exploited as ground truth information for assessing system performances. Both in situ and model data are used to investigate the capabilities of the systems according to the variations of the meteorological and oceanographic conditions. Preliminary results are presented and discussed, together with an outline for future research studies.