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© Ploughshare Innovations Ltd 2024. Registered in England and Wales No. 04401901
Maritime radar systems are not currently utilised to capture stabilised data on an ongoing basis. A new development enables users to unlock the full potential of COTS maritime radar systems and overcome these limitations.
There is currently a crucial gap in marine radar capabilities, particularly when it comes to creating real-time accurate depictions of landmass and surface objects with a small radar cross section such as ARGO floats, micro-scale submersibles, surface debris or people overboard. Without these accurate depictions for operators, marine vessels are left vulnerable to a number of dynamic risks that can cause costly damage and safety hazards, such as changing coastal features, other vessels, and floating debris.
In addition, small vessels have not traditionally been exploited for marine remote sensing due to ‘standard’ radar equipment being too large. However, there is now a growing requirement for more advanced and smaller vessels, including uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), to perform operations usually undertaken by larger workboats. Alongside this, with ongoing technological advancements in this area, the size of radar systems are continuing to decrease in size, opening opportunities for small vessels to be utilised for this purpose for the first time.
Developed by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the Radar Image Mosaicking technique integrates with existing radar equipment to provide accurate depictions of landmass and surface objects in real time from a moving vessel. This technology is particularly powerful in coastal and inshore vessel operations, and is well-suited to low-cost, low-power digital radar systems found on modern work boats and emergent small vessels, including USVs.
This is a significant improvement from traditional radar imaging methods by enabling small work-class vessels and USVs to be used for this purpose, increasing the intelligence that can be generated by standard radar systems typically used by small and uncrewed vessels. This expands the horizon of radar remote sensing to COTS radar hardware in a way that has not been possible until now.
Image description: A Radar Image Mosaic generated using X-band radar imagery, collected by RRS Discovery during a passage from NOC Southampton down the Solent to the Channel. The image is generated using a method akin to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing, and is made possible due to NOC’s radar calibration and stabilisation technology. This can effectively turn any moving vessel with a radar into a SAR imaging platform. The image has a ground pixel resolution of 7.5m and is created using the same data that flows into a traditional Plan Position Indicator (PPI) display.
This technology can be used by maritime operators, port authorities, remote vessel operators, and any users involved in the safe and compliant management of marine vessels and further advancing maritime situational awareness in coastal environments and inland waterways.
If you would like to discuss this technology or collaboration opportunities with our team, please get in touch below.
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© Ploughshare Innovations Ltd 2024. Registered in England and Wales No. 04401901