I527-290 ESRIF Final Report (WEB).indd - European Commission

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Furthermore the various actors have diff erent scopes and methods with regard to:
• Mandates and legal remits
• Methods of operation
• Theatre-related threats and priorities
• Access rights to information
Maritime surveillance requires specifi c capabilities for each of the following (in sequence):
Monitoring
Detection
Identifi cation
Tracking
Mission planning
Surveillance of airspace
The current capabilities in order to ensure detection of aircraft fl ying low and slow have several gaps. Those of higher priority are:
Situational picture
• Data mining on diff erent databases
Detection
• Air Defence and Air Traffi c Control radars have poor coverage at low altitudes, experience strong clutter at low altitude
and are subject to terrain masking
Identifi cation and tracking
• Current systems use basic identifi cation and tracking algorithms, the results are not always available or reliable
Information processing (including for Interoperability and Situational Awareness)
• Air Defence/Air Traffi c Control interoperability available only in few countries
• Cross border interoperability not always possible
Systems and services
• Current Air Defence & National Air Traffi c Control or Air Traffi c Management systems have high overall costs. In some
areas they are redundant, while in others there are holes in the coverage
Detection and management of renegade aircraft alerts is an area where NATO and Eurocontrol are currently collaborating.
Technology demonstrators have been developed, like ERRIDS – European Regional RENEGADE Information Dissemination
System and CIMACT – Civil/Military ATM/Air Defence Co-ordination Tool. However, much needs still to be done in order to
bring all EU Member States up to the same level and ensure cross-border collaboration mechanisms.
3.4 Solutions
The key areas of interoperability and aff ordability can both be addressed to some extent through harmonisation and standardisation.
One way to address these issues is to invest in research and development with a focus on aff ordability, to eff ect an order of
magnitude cost reduction in many surveillance equipment. Another solution is to utilize technology from adjacent markets
such as mobile telecommunications where the volumes of production are very high, thus keeping the cost of processing down
to a minimum. Harmonisation of requirements and standardisation across Member States would themselves automatically
also greatly improve aff ordability.
Ineffi cient procurement processes lead to delays and higher acquisition costs. The EU as well as the Members States could
improve their procurement processes by involving technical experts in the requirement specifi cation and acquisition
processes. Such technical experts, who of course have to be fully independent of the solutions providers, will advise on the
best balance between the specifi cations/requirements of end-users and the technical performance of the solutions provided
by the suppliers. Standardisation may be able to play a part in reducing such costs where equipment is required to be EU
Security-approved, thus facilitating a quicker selection process.
ESRIF FINAL REPORT - PART 2 • Working Group: Border Security