ASSESSMENT OF NIGHTTIME AIRBORNE VISUAL ASW CAPABILITY
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Authors
Goff, Justin P.
Subjects
aerial
ASW
avoidance
bioluminescence
image processing
image processing toolbox
imagery
marine mammal
maritime
MATLAB
multi-spectral
semi-submersible
situational awareness
submarine
subsurface
UAS
Unmanned Aerial Systems
sUAS
small Unmanned Aerial Systems
warfare
ASW
avoidance
bioluminescence
image processing
image processing toolbox
imagery
marine mammal
maritime
MATLAB
multi-spectral
semi-submersible
situational awareness
submarine
subsurface
UAS
Unmanned Aerial Systems
sUAS
small Unmanned Aerial Systems
warfare
Advisors
Yakimenko, Oleg A.
Date of Issue
2023-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The U.S. Navy (USN) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are shifting toward the application and use of unmanned systems to provide value to their perspective mission sets through a coordinated range of operational diversity. This research effort sought to assess the feasibility of using commercially available small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) alongside standard imaging sensors to increase the situational awareness of the maritime fleet for subsurface threats and anti-submarine warfare at night. Three lines of effort were pursued by the research team: the first two were unclassified, dealing with detection of whales, and the third line of effort was classified, processing real field data, and is included as a supplemental. The two unclassified efforts affixed commercially available imaging sensors to both manned and unmanned aircraft with the goal of detecting whales at night utilizing bioluminescence. Both fixed wing and rotary sUAS were compared as the flight platform with affixed red, green, blue (RGB) and multispectral imaging sensors. Many challenges were identified and overcome, including the reduction of light pollution from the environment and aircraft, approval for sUAS beyond visual line of sight operations at night, and complications with image elongation. The final determination was that a rotary sUAS system with the MicaSense RedEdge-P was the optimal platform for capturing subsurface bioluminescent transmission at night when launched from a moving platform.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Systems Engineering (SE)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.