The system, dubbed
Sea Spotter, is a new generation (third generation) infrared staring
system that is capable of automatically locating both surface and
airborne targets, super-sonic and slow, very small targets above and
around the vessel, from horizon to zenith and transferring the data
to the ship's combat system for interception.
Based on infrared sensors, the Sea Spotter is a completely passive
system. Unlike electromagnetic radar systems, it does not emit any
signals, so that as part of its situational awareness, it can "see"
but not be seen without emitting any beams and without giving away
the ship's position.
The overall target and battle arena image that is produced by the
Sea Spotter is able to locate such threats as surface-to-surface missiles,
super-sonic and sub sonic sea skimming missiles, combat aircraft,
gliding bombs, ARM weapons helicopters, ships, small target vessels
such as a submarine periscope and/or terrorist threats like jet skis.
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Previous
generation IRST systems suffered from a high false alarm rate, which
makes them inefficient and useless. Third generation systems such as
the Sea Spotter are based on a continuous staring sensor (not a scanning
sensor), which coupled with suitable image processing algorithms, greatly
decreases the number of false alarms to a rate of one false alarm per
24 hour period.
The Sea Spotter system is designed for all naval vessels and is based
on two specific patents and on an image processing ability that is one
of Rafael's leading capabilities. The patents are in the field of time
sharing between a few telescopes in a high frame rate and a central
close cycle cooling system. |
Rafael's Sea Spotter Advanced
Naval IR Staring and Tracking System displayed at Euronaval 2014
The Sea Spotter
is able to locate numerous threats such as surface-to-surface missiles
and super-sonic and sub-sonic sea skimming missiles