Experience with AISSat-1 operations with emphasis on the Arctic

Richard B. OlsenNorwegian Defence Research Establishment

AISSat-1 launch from India03:52 UTC, 12th July 2010

Placed into a 635 km Circular Polar Orbit20 cm × 20 cm × 20 cm

The AIS System• AIS is a marine anti-collision system

• Ships exchange data: Position, course, speed, identity ++

• Mandatory for all SOLAS Class A vessels

• Quickly put to use as a coastal traffic monitoring system

AISSat-1

• National demonstration of wide area maritime surveillance

• Goal:– 1 year test and evaluation– 2 years pilot service

• Project Leader: FFI• Industry partners: Kongsberg Group

University of Toronto

• Government partners: – Norwegian Space Centre – funding – Norwegian Coastal Administration – Data management and

dissemination

The requirement

1: Regjeringens Nordområdestrategi

Norwegian maritime jurisdiction:

• Territorial waters• Exclusive Economic Zone• Fisheries Protection Zone Svalbard• Fiskeries Zone Jan Mayen

> 2 million km2

Radar satellites have been used operationally since 1998

AISSat-1 Mission Requirements and Approach

• Detect, identify and track vessels in the High North• Record data globally• Flexibility for test and research purposes

• 3 Years duration

• Low cost – implementation and operations– Micro space approach

• Small satellite – low complexity – industrial components• Extensive testing of critical components• Low technical and financial risk

– Minimize supervised operations as much as possible

AISSat-1 Mission Architecture

Svalsat

NCA

AISSat-1

AISmessages

Commands&

Data

FFI

Ground Station

Mission ControlData center

AISSat-1 First Results, July 12, 2010

AIS data from AISSat-1 (Orange/Pink) added to AIS data from the Costal Network (Green)

AISSat-1 Post-launch Key Questions

• Performance?– Detection performance– Reliability

• Satellite• Ground Segment

– Capacity• Power• Data downlink

• Performance factors?– Antenna pointing– Noise and Interference

• Operations concept?– Tasking priorities– System monitoring and

maintenance

• Utility?

• Integrity?

• Improvements?

First indication – Arctic: Do we “see” the same ships on every consecutive pass?

Traffic patterns in the High North

2 Weeks of data

Real-time (RT) coverage area (1 year of data)

Performance varies with different pass directions

Continuous operations and global coverage

September 2011

Continuous operations and global coverage

March 2012

Global Detection Performance – AISSat-1

Tracking a single vessel

Use of satellite AIS dataFollowing crossing of the North East Passage

Tracking capability also depends on transmitted signal levels

Distribution of transmitted frequency offsets (Hz) for approximately 1000 vessels

Histogram of transmitted signal strengths (dBm) for approximately 1000 vessels

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing in a global perspective

Integrity Checking and Tracking

Integrity Checking and Tracking

Towards operational implementation

FFI’s Mission Control Centre ”Micro-Houston”

AISSat-1 MCC

Payload operations planning

User feedback 

Primary geographic area

Secondary geographic area

Desired improvements and development

Norwegian Rescue Coordination Centres

Norwegian SeaBarents Sea

Global- More frequent coverage/shorter update

intervals up to continuous real time- Tasking ability

Governor of Svalbard Svalbard -- Stability of operations- More frequent coverage/shorter update

intervals

The Norwegian Fisheries Directorate

Barents Sea Norwegian Sea 

Atlantic

- Stability of operations and reduced risk of dropouts

- More frequent coverage/shorter update intervals

- Increased data collection and analysis from other (Southern Europe, Africa)

 

Norwegian Defence Joint Headquarters

Barents Sea Norwegian SeaNorth Sea

ArcticGulf of AdenLibyaUSANorth East Passage

- More frequent coverage/shorter update intervals up to continuous real time

- Fused tracks combining AIS and satellite radar

AISSat Status

• AISSat-1 has been 31 months in orbit

• Observes approx. 30 000 vessels globally every 24 hours

– More than 90 000 unique vessels in total

• Data supplied to operational users from day 1

• Availability (2012):

– Satellite: >97%– System: > 95%– MTBF: 24 days– Typical recovery time: 6 hours

AISSat-1 Orbit Drift and Decay

Between:

12.7.2010

and

26.11.2012

Average altitude:

AISSat Status

• Budget : 28 MNOK– Development, Build, Launch– Ground Segment (Svalbard, MCC)– Operations

• AISSat-2: 14 MNOK– Build & Launch (mid 2013)

– Includes software upgrades for both satellites to:• House keeping Computer• Payload Data Handling Computer• Attitude Control Computer

NORAIS: Spin-off on the International Space Station

NORAIS

• Norwegian AIS receiver on Columbus/ ISS

• FFI• Kongsberg Seatex• N-USOC (Trondheim)

• ESA• NASA

• Test bed for decoder development

• 3 upgrades completed

• Up to double detection performance in “High Traffic Zones”

• Corresponding upgrade to AISSat-1 is planned April/May

Support to NATO - Ocean Shield

Kongsberg Seatex ASR-200

Industrial spin-off

Acknowledgements

Analyses and reporting were carried out by:

Øystein Helleren

Øystein Olsen

Andreas Nordmo Skauen

Torkild Eriksen

Bjørn Narheim

and

The Norwegian Coastal Administration

Thanks for listening!

Richard.Olsen@ffi.no