MDA Solution Proves Highly Effective
BIRD Aerosystems has completed operational trials of its Ocean Surveillance Control and Reconnaissance (OSCAR) maritime domain awareness (MDA) solution, the company announced on 14 January. The successful trial and the system’s unique capabilities will be presented during the upcoming Africa Maritime Security Forum in Senegal.
During the trial, the system was operated for a customer in Africa and applied machine-learning algorithms on real-time maritime data sources, such as satellite and terrestrial AIS, satellite SAR/EO/IR, LRIT, coastal radars and tactical sensors. It was used to detect, analyze and prioritize suspicious vessels, while providing automatic intelligence, threat assessments and alerts for suspicious or illegal activity detected. The information provided by OSCAR enabled the customer to focus on specific vessels that were pointed out by the system as acting suspiciously, examine them and incriminate those conducting illegal activities.
OSCAR is an affordable, rapidly-deployable solution delivering real-time intelligence and threat assessments for vessels within a country’s areas of interest. Combined with a secure over-the-cloud deployment and multi-sensor integration, OSCAR is an ideal solution for a nation’s maritime protection needs, as it provides 24/7 protection of the maritime domain and Tier 1 Level of prevention against illegal activities at sea such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, oil theft, smuggling and illegal transshipment, as well as for Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) monitoring.
“As we expected, the system was very effective in pointing out the suspicious vessels amongst hundreds of ordinary vessels, therefore allowing the customer to pinpoint his maritime patrol activities and achieve a very high operational efficiency in a cost-effective way. OSCAR is a fully autonomous and advanced multi-sensor MDA system and we hope that this trial will further expand the number of customers who are already interested in the system,” commented BIRD Aerosystems’ Co-CEO, Ronen Factor.
