Maritime
surveillance requirements are demanding specific capabilities and performance
such as mission endurance, flight profiles, mission equipment and human
factors. Until recently, such missions were performed exclusively by
aircraft – some dedicated for the maritime surveillance mission,
with others using off-the-shelf transport planes modified for the mission.
These missions typically demand coverage of very wide areas, monitoring
extensive maritime traffic, as well as deployment in unexpected conditions,
in response to emergencies or on search and rescue missions. Therefore,
the need for efficient development of a maritime situational picture
is critical, enabling the deployment of the few available aerial assets
to cover only those areas or targets of significance.
The introduction of unmanned aircraft platforms is changing this paradigm,
removing the limitations that have restricted manned missions, while
introducing new capabilities that significantly enhance operational
flexibility and efficiency of maritime control. This capability is specifically
important in recent years, as countries are required to cover growing
maritime areas claimed by the Economical Exclusion Zones (EEZ) that
span up to 200 nautical miles from their coastline or farthest island.
In the case of India, for example, such area covers a huge expanse of
the Indian Ocean, bordering Indonesia in the east to Somalia in the
west. A country cannot cover such vast space from its coastal radar
stations, nor can it commit manned patrol flights to cover the entire
area. |
At Aero-India
2013 Elbit Systems is introducing its newest and largest unmanned aircraft
system (UAS) - Hermes® 900 in a new configuration adapted for maritime
mission. This UAS can carry payloads of up to 350 kg. In the maritime
configuration the payload suite includes maritime surveillance radar,
AIS, an electro-optical multi-sensor payload and electronic surveillance
systems. It has the endurance to cover vast ocean areas, redundant line-of-sight
and satellite communications links and radio relay, enabling the operator
to ‘talk through’ to vessels at sea. The aerodynamic efficiency
of the Hermes® 900 enables frequent changes in flight profiles,
enabling visual identification of vessels at sea in addition to the
ISAR capability provided by the radar. Satellite communication enables
it to fly to mission areas at extended ranges as far as 1000 nautical
miles from shore.
A unique capability supported by Elbit Systems command and control systems
is the ability to control two UAS simultaneously from a single ground
control station, using the two redundant data-links. This has a significant
effect on the assets, manpower and operating cost, as well as in improving
the efficient utilization of UAS that can now cover more area or run
a denser surveillance over a given area. The maritime command and control
system employed at the ground control is optimized for the maritime
mission, supporting specific mission planning applications such as maritime
search, Search and Rescue, etc. The entire command and control is located
in a single shelter, which can be operated on shore in a mobile shelter
base or indoor configurations at sea or co-located in several locations.
|
Recognizing
the extraordinary challenge of monitoring the Indian EEZ and vast shoreline,
Elbit Systems has teamed with Windward Ltd. – in order to tackle
this challenge from a different point of view and offer a unique solution
to the Indian Authorities.
MarInt, Windward's proprietary satellite-based maritime analytics system
is capable of covering any area of interest, delivering insightful maritime
domain awareness with diverse applications such as EEZ monitoring, illegal
fishery monitoring, regional traffic analysis and port traffic management.
By leveraging multiple earth observation satellites and other readily
available data sources, MarInt overcomes data overload and conducts
multi-source data integration, applying contextual and geo-specific
behavior and discrepancy analysis to generate actionable insights.
MarInt performs deep behavior analysis on each ship searching for irregularities
and discrepancies, under the assumption that active ship transmissions
may be intentionally misleading. Vessel behavior is analyzed to detect
anomalous and suspicious behavior, which differs from routine maritime
patterns, and could indicate to illicit activities. Bottom line, MarInt
is able to tell you where is the perpetrator you didn't even know was
there.
A unique solution presented at Aero India for the first time globally,
is the combination of our UAS with MarInt - a maritime analytics system
- as the search light for UAS operations. The use of unmanned assets
with MarInt can empower Navy, coast guard, customs, environmental monitoring
and other authorities in better enforcing laws and regulations in their
territorial waters and EEZ, providing them with powerful means to take
legal action and recover lost assets, thus deterring offenders from
repeating such violations. Operating 24/7, MarInt reveals areas of suspicious
activities and pinpoints anomalous vessels. This enables tasking of
unmanned assets such as UAS to patrol the designated areas, identify
and track the suspicious vessels, significantly optimizing aerial patrol
and increasing mission effectiveness while reducing cost. |
