Trident Nov 14 2005 - Tridentnews.ca

TRIDENT, NOVEMBER 14, 2005 5
MARSIE trials yield valuable information
By Virginia Beaton
Trident staff
On any given day, there are
approximately 550 vessels
off the Atlantic coastline.
They range from merchant
shipping to fishing vessels,
research vessels, and patrol
vessels and the activities of
these ships present challenges
for the authorities tasked with
coastal surveillance.
During the Maritime Sensor
Integration Experiment
(MARSIE), an international
surveillance trial held off the
coast of Nova Scotia in October
2005, Defence Research
and Development Canada
(DRDC) led a multi-agency
team in collecting data from
multiple experimental and
existing sensors, with the goal
of evaluating surveillance
technologies and bettering
sensors to further improve
marine security.
The MARSIE results were
announced at a press conference
held at the DRDC
Atlantic establishment in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on
Thursday, October 27.
“This is a success story
for Defence Research and
Development Canada, and
for science in general and for
Canada in general, because it
improves, or will improve,
Canada’s maritime security,”
stated Commander (Cdr)
Tony Cond, MARSIE trial
coordinator.
According to Cdr Cond,
“The challenge that we have
had up until now, and it continues
to be a challenge, is to
determine what all the ships
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are doing in our maritime
space... It is very difficult with
the resources we have at this
time, to determine who is
doing what to whom, and
why, and how.” The Maritime
and Sensor Groups of The
Technical Cooperation Program
(TTCP) developed a
maritime incursion scenario to
test experimental sensors.
During MARSIE, important
objectives included the evaluation
of the multi-sensor
integration and automatic
fusion, in improving the current
Recognized Maritime
Picture (RMP), and the evaluation
of potential intelligence
surveillance and reconnaissance
approaches, to make
recommendations on the best
mix of sensors and systems.
According to Cdr Cond, the
scenario began aboard three
container ships starting one
week apart and leaving Liverpool,
England to cross the
Atlantic. Each one carried a
simulated contraband buoy,
which consisted of a beer keg
equipped with a transponder.
Each keg was dumped off
Newfoundland, where every
time, a fishing trawler would
pick it up and later hand it over
to three smaller vessels in
Chedabucto Bay where they
would take it ashore, for a total
of nine covert approaches to
the shore.
“At this point we had the
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The Slocum Glider was one of the experimental sensors used during MARSIE.
RCMP involved and they
were very excited to be part
of this because for their purposes,
they needed to be
involved in the takedown of
the illegal activity.”
Operational and experimental
sensors followed all
the activity from mid-Atlantic
“and again in Chedabucto
Bay,” stated Cdr Cond.
According to Gary Geling
of DRDC, existing sensors
used during MARSIE included
the Canadian Patrol
Frigate (CPF) sensor suite
onboard HMCS TORONTO,
an unmodified Aurora Patrol
aircraft, High Frequency
Surface Wave Radar, Automatic
Identification System
(AIS), Provincial Airlines
(PAL) King Air, Coast Guard
coast radar, and a NIMROD
aircraft from the United
Kingdom.
The experimental sensors
in use during MARSIE included
the Stealth Buoy, the
SLOCUM Glider, a CP-140
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country participating in the
trial. Participants included
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the RCMP, the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans: Canadian
Coast Guard, the Department
of Transport, Environment
Canada, and the Canadian
Navy, Army, and Air
Force. International participants
were the United States
Office of Naval research, the
Naval Research Lab, the
United States Coast Guard.
From the United Kingdom,
the Defence Science Technology
Lab participated. Australia
and New Zealand were
present as observers.
Total coast of the trial was
$3.5 million dollars, with
DRDC, the Department of
national Defence and other
government departments each
contributing $1 million, and
other countries contributing a
total of $.5 million dollars.
“It’s quite impressive, for
such a low cost, to conduct
such a massive international
scientific trial and accomplish
what we have accomplished,
for such a low budget,”
emphasized Cdr Cond.
Among those potential
benefits, according to Cdr
Cond, Canadian and international
surveillance technologies
may be developed and
refined, “and DRDC will be
able to use the data in the data
fusion process to integrate
multi-sensor data that would
help to develop the Recognized
Maritime Picture.”
Additionally, the Navy will
be able to apply the data to the
RMP for the Maritime Security
Operation Centre.
“Hopefully, the Army and
the Air Force will be able to
leverage these trials, and this
data and these conclusions
and technology developments
to apply to their own
respective Recognized Air
and Land Pictures, as they
develop them.”
Finally, observed Cdr
Cond, there was a beneficial
cooperation among government
departments charged
with coastline responsibilities.
“We have developed a
wonderful cooperative, and
collaborative and communicative
joint effort among
those departments and DND
to work together to create
the necessary information
for our marine surveillance
security.”
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