Blighter Surveillance announces e-scan coastal radar enhancements
NewsNovember 07, 2014
CAMBRIDGE, UK. Blighter Surveillance Systems has announced new enhancements to its electronic-scanning (e-scan) radar for coastal and harbor security, including a new sea wave clutter filter.
Blighter’s new features will enable its radar to protect coastlines from enemy forces including pirates, smugglers, and terrorists arriving on kayaks, jet skies, and rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) at a distance of up to 10 km (6.2 miles). The new features allow the radar system to detect and locate these small and slow moving targets during day and night and in almost all weather conditions, including dense fog, heavy rain, and rough seas.
“Protecting coastlines from illegal intruders is a growing concern for countries the world over,” says Mark Radford, CEO of Blighter Surveillance Systems. “Our Blighter coastal security radar’s unique algorithms and Doppler signal processing enables it to detect the small and uncooperative targets that traditional coastal surveillance radars such as vessel traffic systems and maritime radars are simply not designed for.”
The low-power, solid-state, passive e-scan array radar features sensitive Doppler target detection and frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) transmission technology. The sea clutter filter technology enables the Doppler signal processing unit to filter out sea wave clutter returns in both amplitude and velocity. “The sea clutter filter automatically classifies the sea clutter and removes it and uses a non-moving target detection filter to extract static targets from the Doppler filter, enabling it to detect static boats, buoys and other features in a coastal or port environment,” adds Radford.
The Blighter radar is small – about the size of a briefcase – and uses low power, transmitting only 4 W and consuming 100 W. This allows operation via solar panels and easy installation in areas difficult to reach, such as rocky or inaccessible coastal areas. Remote operation over narrowband wireless links or satellite communication systems is available due to the radar’s low data bandwidth requirement.
Blighter Surveillance Systems’ ITAR-free systems are implemented worldwide in defense, commercial, and government markets for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection such as airports, coastal surveillance, and in military applications. For more information, visit www.blighter.com.
