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EURONAVAL
2014 Show Daily - THALES |
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Thales'
SeeMapper, a new turnkey system to secure shipping lanes and maritime
approaches |
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Thales
has unveiled today at Euronaval 2014 its SeeMapper, a turnkey system
designed to protect shipping lanes, port access channels, naval bases
and privately operated underwater installations. This self-contained
solution provides continuous, high-resolution mapping of the sea-bed
using a towed synthetic aperture sonar (T-SAS) deployed by a service
vessel. |
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Thales SeeMapper towed synthetic aperture sonar (T-SAS) |
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The
emergence and proliferation of new threats such as sea mines and acts
of piracy have created a need for greater protection of the waterways.
To counter these threats, maritime authorities need a system to detect,
classify and locate objects below the surface. These maritime authorities
must therefore maintain regular surveillance of the situation below
the surface in their areas of responsibility in order to secure shipping
lanes, straits, maritime approaches and the access channels to ports
and naval bases at all times.
Offshore operators also need to monitor underwater installations to
check that systems are operating correctly and to carry out maintenance.
Thales SeeMapper is Thales's response to these multiple requirements.
It comprises a vessel deploying a real-time imagery chain to maintain
continuous surveillance of the underwater environment, with a towed
synthetic aperture sonar (T-SAS) performing high-quality mapping of
the sea-bed. |
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SeeMapper
can be launched and recovered by a fully automatic system installed
on the vessel |
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The
vessel is also equipped with a fully automatic system to launch and
recover the towed sonar. This system has been qualified for operation
in rough sea states. A command-and-control system is used for mission
planning and management and to automatically analyse the data gathered.
Thales SeeMapper is a high-performance, affordable turnkey solution
intended for defence forces, maritime security agencies and private
operators needing to maintain permanent surveillance of their underwater
installations (offshore platforms, oil & gas installations, wind
farms, marine turbines, etc.). With its simple, automated deployment
procedure, Thales SeeMapper requires only minimal training and no specialised
skills for launching and recovering the towed sonar array. |
