Abstract
AbstractThis paper introduces a new maritime search and rescue system based on S-band illumination harmonic radar (HR). Passive and active tags have been developed and tested while attached to life jackets and a small boat. In this demonstration test carried out on the Baltic Sea, the system was able to detect and range the active tags up to a distance of 5800 m using an illumination signal transmit-power of 100 W. Special attention is given to the development, performance, and conceptual differences between passive and active tags used in the system. Guidelines for achieving a high HR dynamic range, including a system components description, are given and a comparison with other HR systems is performed. System integration with a commercial maritime X-band navigation radar is shown to demonstrate a solution for rapid search and rescue response and quick localization.
Highlights
Despite an ever evolving increase in maritime safety and security measures, ship accidents and distress at sea situations are still a common occurrence today due to the harsh sea environment many commercial vessels and even private boats operate in
Nowadays the only viable improvement to this response is the use of emergency radio beacons or SARTs (Search and Rescue Radar Transponder), using a GNSS receiver in conjunction with a radio transmitter that should be thrown into the sea as quickly as possible to float along a similar path or trajectory as the person who has gone overboard in addition to the simultaneous deployment of pneumatic life rafts
Experimental results System trials on land The concluding land-based evaluation measurements of the system without X-band navigation radar integration were performed in June 2019 at an auxiliary facility of the Fraunhofer Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR) in Wachtberg / Werthoven in hilly agricultural terrain on top of a small hill with the antenna positioned approximately 1.8 m over ground on a trailer
Summary
Despite an ever evolving increase in maritime safety and security measures, ship accidents and distress at sea situations are still a common occurrence today due to the harsh sea environment many commercial vessels and even private boats operate in. Search and rescue (SAR, not to be confused with synthetic aperture radar) at sea is considered to be a very time critical task due to the hostility of the environment, especially when people are already in life rafts, or even worse, directly in the water itself [1]. While SAR organizations can generally rely upon ship- or airborne (imaging) radar and thermal imaging sensor suites to reduce the search time, these specialized rescue assets generally take considerable time to arrive at the scene of the accident, even in coastal waters. Nowadays the only viable improvement to this response is the use of emergency radio beacons or SARTs (Search and Rescue Radar Transponder), using a GNSS receiver in conjunction with a radio transmitter that should be thrown into the sea as quickly as possible to float along a similar path or trajectory as the person who has gone overboard in addition to the simultaneous deployment of pneumatic life rafts. While more advanced personal systems using complex transceiver transponders (short: tags) are available, they are not widely adopted due to high unit cost and logistical challenges such as charging facilities, high power usage, maintenance requirements, and long cold start times for the GNSS position fix
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
