A sensor fusion architecture for the CP-140 marine surveillance aircraft

This paper describes a sensor fusion architecture which fuses the sensors of the CP-140 aircraft. Emphasis is placed on open ocean and littoral surface surveillance (drug interdiction, illegal fishing enforcement, search and rescue, smuggling interdiction, and ASuW operations). Sensors which provide the surface surveillance data are the APS-116 radar, IFF, ESM, Link 11, FLIR, and navigation sensors. Generic capabilities of the individual sensors are discussed and a functional fusion architecture is presented. The functional architecture consists of preprocessing and tracking algorithms which generate a single fused track on all targets detected by the CP-140 sensor suite. Operational benefits of sensor fusion to the aircraft crew are discussed. The work described in this paper was done under contract to the Canadian Defense Forces.