Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/122908
INNOVATION tomatic Information System), which periodically transmits the ship's name, registry, type, destination, port of origin and GPS coordinates. TracShare takes the information picked up by an individual ship's radar, after it has been enhanced via the MSTT, and then uses the host ship's AIS transponder to relay what can be seen via its radar. "Let's say I'm a host vessel," Ponsford says, "maybe a B.C. ferry. I've got my radar on, I'm going into the inlets of Vancouver Island, and I'm picking up information. Normally there are no other radar systems out there, and the Canadian authorities aren't aware what's taking place in these inlets. [With TracShare] now I've got my B.C. ferry in there broadcasting back to the maritime operations centre what they see." You start to understand the idea behind a maritime social network when you imagine numerous vessels equipped with TracShare. What they build up is a mosaic of overlapping radar plots that a land based control station can use to pick out likely vessels far offshore, and then continue to track them as they move in toward land. And I the data that TracShare gathers can be shared with other similarly equipped vessels. "Hitting a log or a floating oil barrel at sea can be a disaster," says Ponsford. TracShare would let vessels know about potential hazards well in advance. This would be useful particularly in the future as areas such as the Northwest Passage become relatively open for transit. TracShare would give freighters and tankers transiting Arctic waters extra warning of what Ponsford describes as "bergy bits," large chunks of ice that could potentially slow down or damage ships. This feature, and the fact that by making use of AIS technology it doesn't require the purchase of an additional transmitter, should help make it attractive to ship owners. Tests of the system using data culled from the waters off southern Florida to see how well TracShare would do in waters rife with drug and human smugglers suggests that, were 75 percent of the ships plying the area equipped with TracShare, the coastguard could grab 95 percent of the potential threats attempting to enter American waters. And, says Ponsford, you need only make sure that 50 to 60 percent of likely vessels were so equipped to cause a major dent in illegal smuggling operations. TracShare to date has undergone a number of tests at sea. The next stage is a major trial for the U.S. government. "It's too early to call them a customer," Ponsford says, "but they are definitely interested." AirBoss-Defense The Ultimate Protection MAKING IN NOVAT I ON A R E AL I T Y 28 A, boulevard de l'Aéroport, Bromont (Québec) J2L 2S6 • Canada • defense@airbossdefense.com www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2013 23