Long-Wavelength IR Imaging System to Scuba Diver Detection in Three Dimensions

Port surveillance and especially the monitoring of small vessels within a port has been an important focus in port security, whereby today video-based systems are the main candidates for the surveillance despite their apparent inherent limitations at night. This paper presents the results in our experiments in the Hudson River Estuary utilizing a long-wavelength IR imaging system for the detection of a submerged SCUBA diver in three dimensions. During the experiments, the SCUBA diver was in different diving conditions as well as at different depths. Further data analysis shows the correlation of the diver's IR signature to the diver's depth, which may be used to develop a model to detect the diver's depth.