The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has been awarded a contract to upgrade the SSC maritime surveillance systems that were delivered to the Portuguese Air Force in the early 1990’s.
The Portuguese Air Force has been operating the SSC maritime surveillance systems with very good results, since the early 1990’s, in its mission to control fishing activities for the Portuguese Fishery Inspectorate. The Portuguese fishing zone is the largest in the European Union and includes the 200 nautical miles zone surrounding the Portuguese mainland, Madeira and the Azores.
“We are excited to get this opportunity to bring the systems up to date for the Portuguese Air Force”, says Olov Fäst, head of SSC’s Airborne Systems Department. “We have learned a lot about the fishery surveillance mission from the Portuguese, and we are truly looking forward to getting their feedback on how well we have succeeded in incorporating their requirements and suggestions into the design of the latest version of our system.“
The SSC Maritime Surveillance System, developed over many years in close cooperation with our many clients, is a field-proven, user-friendly system and is used for Exclusive Economic Zone Protection such as pollution monitoring and fishery control by coast guard organisations around the world.
For further information please contact Mr. Olov Fäst, tel. +46 8 627 63 08 or e-mail olov.fast@ssc.se
Facts
The Portuguese Air Force’s systems will be upgraded to the new MSS 6000 system standard, which includes a radical modernization of the signal and data processing as well as the presentation system for SLAR (Side Looking Airborne Radar), IR/UV (InfraRed/UltraViolet) Line Scanner, Search Radar, FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared), Micro Wave Radiometer and Pyrometer. The upgrade further involves modernization of the SLAR and IR/UV sensors, as well as adding new camera and video camera systems with fully digital processing and recording.
The upgrade of the sensor presentation system to a state of the art MSS 6000 system will include a number of new features to give the system operator in the aircraft a dramatically improved situation overview. The electronic map display in the system is tightly integrated with the sensor data being recorded. The data is further correlated with a continuous log of the operator’s own observations as well as events logged by the system, all of which forms a comprehensive database of observations and recordings. The comprehensive database coupled to the electronic map will support the crew in performing the mission, and will also facilitate a structured report of the results of the mission.
The electronic map in the system further includes digital nautical charts, up to 64 user defined map overlays defining areas and borders of special interest for the mission, live presentation of AIS (Automatic Identification System) and VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) transponder data to display the identity of all ships in the area etc., all features intended to improve the situation overview from the patrol aircraft.
The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is a comrehensive space industry. We develop, launch and operate space systems as well as perform tests of new aerospace systems. SSC’s space engineering centre in Solna develops space vehicles and airborne maritime surveillance systems. Space operations and testing are performed at Esrange, SSC’s operational base in northern Sweden. (www.ssc.se)
