Abstract
A team of scientists and engineers from the federal government, industry, and academia is evaluating the ability of digital radar systems to identify and track biological targets and then validating these systems under realistic operational conditions. The eBirdRad radar unit utilizes off the shelf X-band marine radar coupled with advanced digital signal processing and tracking algorithms to process target information. The overall objectives of the IVAR project include: 1) the use of independent visual, thermal and other observations to validate automatic detection, tracking and display of targets in real time; 2) demonstrate the statistical validity of sampling protocols for bird activity; 3) validate protocols and algorithms for streaming real-time bird track data from multiple sites for immediate display and subsequent analysis; 4) demonstrate algorithms for fusing data from multiple radars; 5) capture baseline data on bird activity at the demonstration sites; and 6) develop objective criteria for functional, performance, and interoperability requirements of these radars, and to guide research to extend avian radar technology.