High Frequency Surface Wave Radar
Current systems are based on a non permanent multi-sensor coverage, encompassing networked coastal radars that cover 50 to 70 km, mobile radars or IR cameras on surveillance boats or aircrafts, etc. The EEZ is neither entirely nor permanently observed, and the zones that are partly covered necessitate a costly deployment of numerous mobiles sensor platforms (boats & aircrafts). The ScanMaris project intends to experiment cost-efficient sensor coverage, introducing set of complementary sensors with improved ranges. The goal is not to replace the entire sensor cover currently in use: that would be an unnecessary and unrealistic financial waste. But the ScanMaris project aims at proposing add-on sensors, that serve to improve detection range and release currently monopolised mobile sensor capacities that could be better used elsewhere or otherwise (surveillance aircrafts are better suited to specifically targeted recognition missions for example).
ONERA deployed during the first quarter 2007 a promising long range High Frequency Surface Wave Radar in the Bay of Biscay. The HFSWR radar is composed of an omni-directional transmitting antenna and an array of 16 passive receiving antennas. The transmission and the reception system are entirely numerical. The design allows focusing the reception beam in several directions within an azimuth sector of +/- 45 degrees.
Figure 5: ONERA HFSW radar
During the project, the HFSWR of the Bay of Biscay will be run to realise various trials in order to obtain data usable for the multi sensor (HFSWR and conventional radars, AIS, etc.) data fusion process to built representative traffic pictures over wide maritime areas.