A Distributed Sensor Network Architecture for Defense Against the Ship as a Weapon in the Maritime Domain

A successful terrorist attack using a ship as a weapon (SAW) on shore infrastructure in the Malacca and Singapore Straits would cause chaos to global trade, as these Straits carry over one-quarter of the world’s commerce and half the world’s oil. This calamity must be prevented. Toward this goal, this thesis aims at developing and determining the best distributed sensor network (DSN) architecture and implementing a sensor fusion algorithm for tracking a SAW intended to run into the oil and chemical terminals on Jurong Island, Singapore.
The work in this thesis involves the application of (1) an integrated systems engineering methodology for designing alternative DSN architectures, (2) Kalman and information filters for SAW tracking and sensor data fusion, (3) a track-to-track fusion algorithm, and (4) a Monte Carlo simulative study to assess the effectiveness of three distributed sensor fusion network architectures—centralized, de-centralized, and hybrid. Each distributed sensor fusion network architecture includes the various sensors that Singapore deploys in and along the Singapore Straits.
The simulative study results indicate that, with and without communication bandwidth constraints, a ship with the intent to attack Jurong can be identified accurately at an earlier time with both the centralized and de-centralized sensor fusion network architectures than with the hybrid sensor fusion network architecture.