Bayesian inference for radar imagery based surveillance

We are interested in creating an automated or semi-automated system with the capability of taking a set of radar imagery, collection parameters and a priori map and other tactical data, and producing likely interpretations of the possible military situa­ tions given the available evidence. This paper is concerned with the problem of the interpretation and computation of certainty or belief in the conclusions reached by such a system. For example, if we consider the problem of confirming or denying the presence of a battalion in a given area, we should include in our decision making process the prior likelihood of military presence based on tactical objectives, the evidence of military vehi­ cles in radar image data, the spatial and tactical clustering and patterns of the vehicles extracted from the imagery, etc. Furthermore, if the user of the system has particular interests such as knowing specific deployments, location of battalion headquarters, etc., then these interests should also be responded to in certainty computations.