Page 31: of Marine News Magazine (March 2006)

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March, 2006 • MarineNews 31

MARITIME SECURITY

Keeping up with what's new in the maritime security field is no easy task. Ever since September 11, 2001, all in the marine field have been put on the hot seat. The job is to figure out how to protect U.S. ports and harbors from terrorist attacks. Fortunately, the U.S. Coast Guard is assigned to lead the effort to provide protection of our ports and they are doing a Herculean job. There are 361 ports that must be assessed for threats and then priori- tized in terms of how much and how quickly they will be protected and with what.

According to Rear Admiral Joseph Nimmich, USCG, one of the panelists at the IEEE Ocean Engineering Soci- ety Homeland Security Technology Workshop dubbed

Ocean and Maritime Technologies for Infrastructure Pro- tection, "Once you've seen one port, you've seen one port," which means each of the ports with the highest pri- ority in the U.S. must have separate security plans that are customized to address specific threats in those ports.

Nimmich went on to say that one of his biggest worries is the threat of attack on LNG tankers, cruise ships, power plants, bridges to name of few from small, rogue pleasure boats. It's one thing to track all commercial ships traveling along the coast, but how do we track and monitor all the pleasure craft? It may be impossible. Dec. 7 was the anniversary of the biggest maritime awareness failure in the U.S. history, which was the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor when 2,800 service men and civilians were killed. Today we are not that must better equipped to prevent our commercial ports from being attacked.

The USCG has been extremely successful at bringing all the parties together including: shippers, port authori- ties, cruise ship owners, local police and fire to agree on procedures, priorities and protocols. As a result, five years after Sept. 11, detailed port protection implementa- tion plans are in place for at least 66 of the top ports.

Dr. Gary Salisbury of defense giant, Northrop Grum- men Corporation, discussed actions that can be taken to create an overview of the U.S. coast and integrate many data sources to provide a snap shot of potential threats.

He and others believe that it is possible to apply the domain awareness models developed for U.S. military operations offshore to the domestic arena. "The technol- ogy and intellectual property to do this is available, but specific priority setting and funding are the hitch." He said that there will be challenges in working with indus- try and other government entities to develop better part- nerships. There are many complications when it comes to sharing certain types of information and in the procure- ment of products and services. In the shipping business, for example, ship captains are being asked to report when they leave a port and where and when their next port of call will be. This information is posted on a web site.

Companies are reluctant to make this information pub- licly available as it is highly competitive in nature. They have no issue making the information available to authorities, however. Rear Admiral David Pekoske,

Commander of the 1st Coast Guard District, New York to

Maine, said that the Coast Guard works jointly with all parties when it comes to providing port security; it's a necessity based on the limited resources within the

Guard. An area of new technology and capabilities devel- opment is being able to detect and track targets out to 200 miles. Deepwater security is huge undertaking and one of the USCG's major priorities.

The USCG R and D center in Groton has been evalu- ating technologies for developing underwater detection and security systems. Some of the technologies featured at the conference included a forward seeking sonar device manufactured by FarSounder, Inc., that is being evaluated by the USCG and the US Navy for use as a swimmer detection device. Researchers from Applied

Physical Science Corporation presented data on the use- fulness of an underwater loud hailer that would be used when a swimmer approached a target. NUWC had a

Spartan Umanned Surface Vehicle set out in the parking lot. It's a remotely operated go-fast inflatable that can monitor and attack threats. It can be preprogrammed or directed real time via and RF link. Several underwater vehicles were showcased for use in providing remote threat assessment operations. Some of those on site included Sippican's EMAT, Mark II Submarine Training

Target; the Gavia AUV, a Hydroid REMUS AUV, and the

Benthos StingRay ROV. — Maggie Merrill

Industry Discusses Port Threats

L-R Tim Howard and Jake Ferreira -USCG, Pamela Hurst-conference co-chair - Lockheed Martin; Rear Admiral Pekoske-United States

Coast Guard, Boston Station; Bruce Winterstone - Lockheed Martin.

In an age where technology to thwart water-bound criminals continues to advance, thermal imaging technology has become most effective. The technology, initially developed for military, has expanded its capabilities to the maritime community. Advances have made it more adaptable for use in various operations in the maritime marketplace. Today's small- er, more ruggedized cameras have better picture quality at longer distances and are ideal for a myriad of applications. Follow- ing the destruction of Hurricane Wilma, protecting Florida's coastline became a top priority for state officials. Public safe- ty officials needed a way to be able to pre- vent the kind of theft and looting found in

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

With no electricity in several areas of

Florida, thermal imaging presented the best option for patrolling the state's rav- aged coastline.

The EMX MidWatch thermal imaging camera — powered by an L-3 Communi- cations thermal imaging camera core — has been helping the crew from the Flori- da Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com- mission (FWC) to patrol for looters along the Naples, Fla., coast after the area lost electricity following Hurricane Wilma.

The camera was housed aboard the

Guardian (pictured) — a technologically advanced vessel with a high-tech control panel manufactured by Rolls Royce — and is used to detect suspicious activity both in the water and on shore. Thermal imaging allows the crew to detect any variances in temperature and gives a clear image of the target whether it be a person, a boat or even a recently used fishing net, all from on board the ship. Equipped with a thermal imaging camera, the FWC is prepared for any future emergency that could knock out power to the area. "The thermal imaging camera has been an enormously powerful tool for the

FWC," Lt. Kenneth Mazzeo, Captain of the Guardian, said. "After Wilma, the

Naples coast was thrown back into the dark ages. The thermal imager has allowed us to patrol the numerous canals and waterways in the area for looters in the water and on shore as well, despite the complete lack of electricity."

The thermal imaging camera also enables several homeland securi- ty applications - particularly for patrolling U.S. coastlines - which is increasingly important in today's atmosphere. The L-3- powered MidWatch allows the

Guardian to patrol borders - par- ticularly the areas near potential targets such as a nuclear power plant - for suspicious activity. The camera can detect temperature variances in both the water and on shore, allowing the Guardian's crew to respond to any suspicious activity, thereby preventing a possible terrorist action from potentially occurring.

The combination of the L-3-powered

MidWatch and the technology aboard the

Guardian is a powerful tool for the FWC.

The ship has the ability to skim the water on its hydrofoil at 50 mph and to stop in two boat lengths. The MidWatch is pow- ered by a Thermal-Eye 3620AS Amor- phous Silicon core that provides a video interpolated 640 x 480 display. The

Guardian's three onboard computers, paired with the ship's thermal imaging capabilities, which can detect a man-sized target at 1.5 Km (about one mile), make the vessel a potent weapon against water- bound criminals.

Circle 24 on Reader Service Card

Thermal Imaging Helps FWC Patrol Florida Coast

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