Weak-Signal Interpretation for Airspace and Maritime Sensing

This bridge paper applies the weak-signal / layered-interpretation architecture to airspace and maritime sensing. It argues that large-area sensing systems often encounter weak, noisy, partial, and ambiguous signals before object certainty or incident certainty is available. Faint radar irregularities, intermittent motion traces, weak thermal or visual inconsistencies, RF oddities, route deviations, metadata mismatches, and cross-sensor disagreement may not justify immediate promotion into tracks or incidents, but they may justify heightened attention.

The paper proposes a stratified, auditable architecture for early anomaly triage: bounded findings preserve local structure; provisional interpretations hold candidate meanings; short-horizon salience widens inspection; and governed promotion controls stronger consequence. Its contribution is intentionally narrow: a minimal state ladder, compact event object, predicate template, and promotion-record boundary for prototyping weak-signal triage without changing downstream tracking, engagement, or enforcement logic.

This is not a sensor-fusion benchmark, targeting paper, interception doctrine, or full command-and-control proposal. It is an architecture note focused on preserving weak anomaly signals before they harden into tracks, incidents, or ignored noise.