TerraSense Analytics awarded $199,754.70 six month contract through the Department of National Defence’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program.
Kelowna, British Columbia, June 23, 2021
TerraSense Analytics announced today they have been awarded a $199,754.70 six month contract through the Department of National Defence’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program for SeaMIST. SeaMIST is an extension of the current TerraSense MIST (Multi Modal Surveillance & Tracking) product line, designed to enhance maritime situational awareness by detecting visible objects encountered in a naval environment using an ensemble of deep learning networks.
SeaMIST will operate in real-time to fuse information from multiple sensors to detect, track and classify common navigational hazards , threats, and other targets. To keep pace with a rapidly evolving threat landscape, TerraSense will use artificial intelligence trained to counter emerging technologies such as drone swarms and hypersonic missiles. Because SeaMIST employs infrared sensors, hazard detection and classification can be done in all weather conditions regardless of visibility and time of day.
A novel artificial intelligence solution will be developed to provide insight into target threat levels and enable intelligent prioritization. In addition to threat classification, all weather operation and target prioritization, SeaMIST will focus heavily on ensuring that the operator builds an appropriate level of trust in the system by developing an extensive explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) component.
“We’re setting out to disrupt maritime domain awareness and hazard sensing using artificial intelligence, with a focus on engaging emerging threats such as drone swarms.” says TerraSense CTO Jozsef Hamari.
TerraSense Analytics is collaborating with Dr. Zheng Liu of the University of British Columbia for the initial six month project. Dr. Liu has extensive experience in data fusion, computer vision and intelligent sensing. The TerraSense Analytics team brings their experience in sensor fusion technology through their MIST product. This is TerraSense’s fourth collaboration with Dr. Zheng Liu at UBC through the DRDC IDEaS program.
About IDEaS
The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program is an investment of $1.6 billion over 20 years aimed at meeting the demands of today’s complex global defence and security environment. The program enables Canada to deliver the capabilities needed for a strong and agile military by providing financial support to foster innovation through contracts, contribution agreements and grants. The IDEaS program helps innovators by supporting analysis, funding research, and developing processes that facilitate access to knowledge. It will also support testing, integration, adoption, and acquisition of creative solutions for Canada’s defence and security communities. For more information on the IDEaS program, visit the website: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/programs/defence-ideas.html
About TerraSense Analytics
TerraSense Analytics develops remote sensing technologies with a focus on deep learning. Partnered with several research institutions to advance the development of aerial sensing technology, data fusion and predictive maintenance, TerraSense Analytics provides services to both the government and the private sector, deploying intelligent sensor solutions to the most remote and hostile domains.