Vanguard Magazine

TeChnology WATCh www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 37 The sigma S6 integrates with most existing marine radars and eliminates the need for a separate system for ice navigation. International Submarine Engineering president James McFarlane with one of his submarines in the company's Port Coquitlam facility. (Source: Vancouver Sun). The MAGS V8 in use, an innovative technology made by Canadian SME from Quebec, Terragon Environmental Technologies. MDA's RADARSAT is used to moni- tor Arctic activity and assess climatic and ice conditions. "MDA has been providing space-based data and information prod- ucts to the Government of Canada's Arc- tic sovereignty mission for over 40 years," said Mike Greenley, Group President of MDA. "Our radar satellite data and mari- time domain awareness solutions enable Canada to continuously monitor human and vessel Arctic activity as well as pro- viding key data sources for population, wildlife, climate, and ice flow analysis." In the last 20 years, RADARSAT 1 and RA- DARSAT 2 have taken over 7500 images in Canada's Arctic region. Another Canadian technology that is key to solving the challenges the Arctic poses to traditional communications/ navigation/surveillance technology is the sigma S6 Ice Navigator, a special ice navi- gation radar technology, made by Cana- dian SME, Rutter. The Arctic can be an alien terrain full of ice, water, and every- thing in-between. Rutter's Advanced Ice Analysis boasts the most comprehensive view of the environment including de- tection of ice ridges, icebergs embedded in pack ice, open water leads and coast- lines. The refinements to Arctic situation- al awareness spans a range of sea states, weather, and daylight conditions, averag- ing 32 scans and tracking up to 1000 tar- gets simultaneously, allowing operators to make real-time and predictive decisions. High-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned vehicles are also needed in the Arctic for surveillance. Northrop Grum- man and General Atomics Aeronautical systems are currently the most mature systems that could be deployed, of which both companies would have to provide high tech ITBs and include Canadian SMEs in the process of innovating to pro- vide these platforms. In addition, International Submarine Engineering develops and manufactures autonomous and remotely operated ro- botic systems across subsea, land, space, and in the Arctic. ISE built the first au- tonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to lay fiber-optic cables on the seabed – doing so across 200 kilometres at a depth of up to 600 meters in 1985 in the Arctic. Since then, the AUVs have become deeper-div- ing, longer-range, and more modular to transport. Advancements in homing tech- nology also allow the AUV to pair with a moving beacon (given that the Arctic is a constantly changing landscape) and to re- charge, upload data, and receive new trav- elling instructions at the same time. Virtually the entire ice-breaking fleet, operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, will likely be replaced in the next decade, which offers an opportunity for even more Canadian innovations to be included as a part of that replacement process. One example in shipbuilding is Canadian SME, Terragon Environmental Systems, which has a very unique innovation called the MAGS V8, which is the only deployed marine garbage disposal system that meets the new environmental regulations for the Arctic. Never has there been a better time or place to innovate in Arctic-related technol- ogies. This is certainly something Canada has and should continue to "own" and not let the opportunity to lead innovation in this sector slip through our fingers. There will be a lot of activity coming up – a big opportunity for Canadian technology. Nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard magazine and founder and presi- dent of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs.

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