MSAW 2019 is delighted to confirm the following keynote talks from distinguished scientific experts in the fields of data fusion, surveillance and radar systems
- Dr. James Llinas, University at Buffalo (Biography)
- Dr. Felix Govaers, Fraunhofer FKIE (Biography)
- Dr. Alfonso Farina, Leonardo, Ret. ; Sergio Gallone, CTO Leonardo S.p.A. ; Massimo Claudio Comparini, CEO, e-GEOs, CTO, Telespazio,Head of Line of Business Geoinformation
- Mr. John Waterston, DARPA Strategic Technology Office
Please see the programme page for the keynote schedules.
" pdf Reexamining information fusion - sensemaking - decision making inter-dependencies again (3.06 MB) "
Dr. James Llinas
Abstract
This presentation suggests that IDF, Sensemaking, and DM processes cannot be optimally designed without consideration of such interdependencies, and a variety of details of such interdependencies of these processes are discussed. Among the issues commented on are: little accounting for the “Dual-process Models” of decision-making (factors of which have in fact been addressed by Nobel Laureates), integration of Information Foraging operations and the link to Sensemaking processes supportive of DM, important temporal effects in inter-process design, metrics involved in measuring and evaluating process interdependencies, new factors on the input side such as unstructured and linguistic data, among other factors. The spirit of the paper is as a research challenge for the IDF, cognitive, and DM communities and an appeal for joint efforts to evolve optimal designs of these important interdependent processes.
(1) E.g., the International Information Fusion Conferences of the last 5 years collectively have fewer than a dozen papers on decision-making.
"Push and pull digitalization: technology drivers for sensor data fusion"
Dr. Felix Govaers
Abstract
Comprehensive networking, ubiquitous sensor technology, robots, drones, artificial intelligence, machine learning, ... and many more of these buzzwords! Digitalization has long since dominated almost all areas of modern life. Defence & Security is no less affected by the “digital revolution” in all its branches. On the contrary – many fundamental technologies have their roots in this area.
For a wide range of applications, we consider trends and practical examples to shed some light on the impact of comprehensive digitalization on sensor data fusion, i.e. on surveillance, resources management and supporting smart decisions. Fusion technology is basic for acing successfully and responsibly in the increasingly complex technosphere that is surrounding us.
Cognitivity of communication and sensor systems, automation of platforms up to levels of autonomy, manned-unmanned teaming, and handling of big or sparse data are technologies enabled by sensor data fusion and intelligent resources management and will be discussed by considering examples. Some more visionary ideas of fusion algorithms that are exploiting quantum physics inspired mathematics will conclude the talk.
The research of Felix Govaers is focused on data fusion for state estimation in sensor networks. This includes track-extraction, processing of delayed measurements as well as the Distributed Kalman filter and track-to-track fusion. He is also interested in advances in state estimation such as particle flow and homotopy filters and the random finite set theory approaches. Felix Govaers is an active member of the ISIF community since 2008, he has been organizing the ISIF co–sponsored SDF Workshop in Germany for many years as the Technical Program Chair. For the upcoming FUSION in 2016 he supports the organization team as the Publication Chair. Since 2014 he also serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems journal.
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pdf
Maritime surveillance: radar technologies and scenario characteristics
(8.18 MB)
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A. Farina (Consultant), S. Gallone, Leonardo S.p.A., M. C. Comparini, e-GEOS Chief Executive Officer, Telespazio Head of Line of Business Geoinformation
Abstract
Since the beginning of the radar history Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) has been identified as the first operational application for both commercial and defense areas. After the WW2 the first operational standards were defined for on board radar equipment, followed by the regulations for fixed radar installations. Vessel Traffic System (VTS) radars were the extension of the on board equipment, since they are the same apparatus equipped with larger antennas, to obtain longer detection ranges and better azimuth accuracy with medium-high altitude installations. In the last decade solid state VTS radars were developed replacing the use of magnetrons, obtaining lower costs for maintenance and logistics, and introducing the Doppler processing in the VTS radars. Modern radars still need to be improved, in term of performances, considering the complex environmental and operative scenario and the more stringent operational needs. Examples are the followings:
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Sea clutter (“sea spikes”) is a relevant restraint, and its characterization is still under study. -
The large variance of the target size (from sea tank to rubber or wooden boats) require high radar resolution, both in range and azimuth, and high dynamic amplitude range. -
The operative centers allow interoperability and remote relocation, thus the radar network works at different level of data information displays and different requirements for the data fusion
Sergio Gallone
Sergio Gallone graduated in Electronic Engineering with maximum grade, in the University of Roma “La Sapienza” on 1984. He joined Selenia S.p.A on 1985 and was involved as Project Manager/Project Leader of many innovative radar projects, for both military and civilian applications, in naval and ground domain, from UHF to X-bands, for the detection/recognition of aircraft, ships and personnel/ground vehicles. He obtained 2 patents on sea clutter reduction methods. He is now in the central CTO of Leonardo S.p.A.
Massimo Claudio Comparini
Massimo Claudio Comparini has a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering, Remote Sensing and Radar Systems, University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy), and a Master Degree in Strategy (MBA), Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, CA (USA).
He began his career in the space industry in 1983 at Selenia Spazio (later Alenia Spazio), holding positions of increasing responsibility, up to that of Chief Technology Officer.
After the establishment of the joint venture Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67%, Finmeccanica 33%), he took up the role of Deputy Chief Technical Officer, CTO of TAS Italia and Vice President for R&D, Technology, Product Policy and IPR. In 2013 he was appointed Chief Technical Officer at Telespazio, a joint venture between Finmeccanica (67%) and Thales (33%).
He is also the Chairman of Space Innovation in the Italian Technology Platform SPIN IT. Author of over 80 papers, he published works in the field of space and microwave technologies, innovation and technology management. He holds seats in several steering committees and boards of scientific associations and International conferences. He has had several Academic chairs in the Engineering and Management Departments of Italian Major Universities.
Comparini is Chairman of the Space Innovation technology platform in Italy, and is a National expert in the space configuration of the European Horizon 2020 programme.
In 2016, he has been appointed as CEO of e-GEOS, an ASI 20% / Telespazio 80% company, which has the mission to commercialize world-wide COSMO-SkyMed radar Constellation data, applications and services and to provide multimission Geospatial integrated solutions, based on innovative satellite data processing chain.
" pdf Ocean of things (2.61 MB) "
Mr. John Waterston
Abstract
DARPA's Ocean of Things (OoT) program enables persistent maritime situational awareness over large ocean areas by deploying thousands of low-cost, intelligent floats that drift as a distributed sensor network. Each float manages a suite of commercially available sensors to collect environmental data such as sea surface temperature, sea state, and location as well as activity data about vessels and marine mammals moving across the ocean. The floats periodically transmit processed data, or immediately report events based on internal prioritization schemes. Messages travel via commercial satellite to a government cloud for storage and real-time analysis. Cloud-based data analytics feature machine learning aimed at discovering emergent features and behaviors from sparse data. The multiple performers manufacturing floats and developing software are being led by a government management team to employ commercial design methodology and agile best practices. At-sea float deployments are planned in two phases over 2019 (1-month) and 2020 (3-month). Program benefits include ocean environmental products derived from high-density, in-situ measurements and analytical applications, which can simultaneously provide users a range of outputs to include ocean circulation prediction, vessel and marine mammal tracking, and dynamic ocean resource management.
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