Maritime approaches and exclusive economic zones for coastal nations are vast and difficult to monitor using traditional methods. Surveillance over these areas is important to detect and mitigate unlawful activities such as illegal fishing, oil pollution and drug trafficking.
Our Coresight software and surveillance products are being used by defence contractors, maritime operators and civil protection agencies to analyze satellite data to detect and report suspicious vessels and ice hazards in an Arctic context. Commercial satellites from several providers are used to follow up on the suspicious. Coresight automates the download and analysis of the data, facilitates human quality control, displays results and generates reports.
We have a long history in maritime surveillance for commercial infrastructure protection and national defence. Our surveillance services help governments and industry monitor icebergs and vessels to ensure the safety of human lives, protect the environment, and guard against illegal activities. By taking advantage of publicly available datasets, we make it possible to conduct surveillance over large areas at low costs. Our maritime surveillance services are built on ongoing research and development that explores and develops best practices for detecting and identifying potential targets and disseminating results. Part of this research includes evaluating new satellites to determine which ones have the best technical characteristics and logistical capabilities for accurate and reliable target detection.
We are the world leader in satellite-based northern maritime surveillance and have delivered monitoring services everywhere icebergs are present. Our maritime surveillance software is currently used by MDSI (Danish), International Ice Patrol (division of US Coast Guard) and Canadian Ice Services.
Industries that have received maritime surveillance research and services include:
Satellite-based products have been used to support mobilization/demobilization and report on iceberg concentrations close to critical operations such as scientific coring, 3D seismic, and drill string recovery. C-CORE currently monitors icebergs along the east coast of Canada and the Arctic. These data products are used to support long-term planning and iceberg forecasting and provide advance notice of potential icebergs of concern to these critical operations.
C-CORE has completed several research projects for the Canadian government to evaluate the capabilities of new satellites for northern maritime surveillance. The focus of many of these projects has been developing ship and iceberg discrimination algorithms and evaluating the capabilities of satellite-based AIS for vessel detection.
C-CORE analyzes satellite images to support icebergfinder.com, a website dedicated to supporting the tourism industry through reporting iceberg locations around coastal Newfoundland and southern Labrador. The website provides links to amenities near iceberg sightings, allows visitors to upload their own photos and comments, and is connected with the network of visitor information centres across the province. Satellite-based data is excellent at covering large areas and filling in the gaps where tourists may seldom venture.
C-CORE has supported numerous international yacht races by providing satellite-based iceberg detection products. Information is extracted from satellite SAR, optical, and altimeter sensors. Information on iceberg locations is used for route planning and to support the safety of the competitors.