Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed to associate input data with status, location, and technical attributes to arrive at a uniquely identified candidate object by obtaining a set of initial candidate objects based on input data being compared to known technical attributes of uniquely identified objects, obtaining best-known object location and status history for each initial candidate object using previously known location and status information of each initial candidate object, assigning a statistical weight to each initial candidate object based on its maximum calculated speed and speed capabilities of each initial candidate object, generating an association probability of each of the initial candidate objects to the input data to arrive at a set of final candidate objects, and re-evaluating any of the above with data considered to be current that was not used, wherein the set of final candidate objects are uniquely identified candidate objects arrived at with current data.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are described that enable the automatic collection of maritime vessel location information within a global or regional framework by using a minimum network of vessels outfitted with non-intrusive AIS data collection systems. The network of vessels may comprise standard ships operating within their normal commercial or private tasks. By utilizing these non-specially tasked vessels and augmenting the received AIS reports with onboard radar/navigation information, accurate global or regional tracking information can be generated at a centralized location without incurring large costs.