The satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) helps to track the world’s busiest shipping lane in the World.
AIS tracking
The satellite image created is colorful to illustrate just how busy these shipping lanes actually are.
It has been declared mandatory for cargo vessels and passenger vessels to install an automatic identification system (AIS) equipment in order to transmit a wealth of information, including its course, speed and identification, and position information for other vessels and shore stations.
The system was initially installed to prevent collisions but is increasingly used for as pollution prevention and tracking of illegal goods.
Vessel tracking
The vessels are tracked from the vantage point of Earth’s orbit using latest ultra-powerful receivers fitted aboard the two NorSat satellites, which was launched last year by Kongsberg Seatex from Norway.
Within four months of operation, the receivers were able to significantly detect identification signals, by increasing the visibility range of messages from 74 km at sea level, to 2,500km from low orbit. This in turn increases the total number of ships that can be seen at one time tenfold.
On an average, NorSat receivers pick up 2.5m messages, making them three times more powerful than previous receivers, such as AISSat-1 and 2.
Message traffic high:
The amount of traffic transmitted to and from the vessels result in the jamming of the satellite receiver and the ESA has reportedly developed a solution to address this problem.
ESA’s Carsten Tobehn said, ”The advanced receiver was developed using the latest commercial off-the-shelf components. The complex hardware permits more sophisticated software processing, bringing significant improvements in picking up the messages”.
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Source: Silicon Republic
