SPx Fusion Server

Host Systems

SPx Fusion Server is application software, designed to run on standard Intel PC or SBC hardware.

The software is simple to install and the following minimum specification is suggested:

• Intel Core i5 or better CPU
• 8GB or more of RAM
• Windows 10 or 11 / Linux (mainstream distribution such as Red Hat, CentOS, Fedora and Ubuntu) less than 2 years old

Priority and Score

The SPx Fusion software allows the user to assign a "priority" and a "score" to each sensor, which means that the credibility of information from each sensor may be established. Information from sensors which are believed to be more accurate may be given greater credence than other, less accurate sensors.

Where observations for a target are received from multiple overlapping sensors, information from the sensor with the highest priority setting is used in preference to the others. If multiple sensors share the same priority level, the decision is based on the proximity of the target to each sensor.

Each sensor may be assigned a score value which gives a weight to its observations. The fusion engine only reports fused tracks if the combined score of all sensors supplying observations for the target is ≥1.0. For example, if the score for each sensor is set to 0.5, then reports will only be output for targets observed by at least two sensors.

Consistent Track Labelling

For situations where a number of radar sensors provide overlapping coverage, it is often desirable for an observer to be presented with a single, consistent set of track labels across the combined coverage area. This is common in Vessel Traffic Systems (VTS) and coastal surveillance applications.

If a target is seen to traverse from the coverage of one sensor into the next, the track label should not change as it does so. Nor should the observer be presented with two or more possible tracks representing the same physical target. SPx Fusion Server can be used in this situation, with the observer receiving track data from SPx Fusion Server, rather than directly from the individual track sources.

Track Receipt and Client Control

Track reports from the SPx Fusion Server application are distributed as UDP messages over Ethernet. A client SPx class is provided, which allows full run-time control over the SPx Fusion Server and simplifies receipt of the fused target track reports within a custom application.

The SPx Fusion Server is configured at start-up via a simple text configuration file. At run-time SPx Fusion Server is controlled through a network socket command interface. The SPx client interface provides functions to set and get the values of parameters that control the SPx Fusion Server operation but generally, in deployed systems, the application runs without further interaction being necessary.

Using the SPx client interface, track reports are received and automatically decoded into a convenient data structure. Each of the fields that the track message contains (for example track label, position, speed or heading) is readily available within the data structure and may be accessed by the custom application.