129
1 INTRODUCTION
Safetyofnavigationontheapproachestotheseaports
of the Republic of Poland can be endangered by
increasedmovementofbigships,includingMaersk’s
container vessels and especially liquid natural gas
(LNG) delivering vessels. Gdańsk and Gdynia,
Poland’smainseaportsarelocatedinZatokaGdańska
in the east of Polish seaside. In the west is locat
ed
seaport in Szczecin and new build gas port in
Świnoujście. Gdańsk and Gdynia take most of the
Polishseatrade,having reasonablepartincontainers
transportationonthelinetoandfromChina.
In 2014 deliveries of LNG to Lithuania started
throughseaportofKlaipeda.SomovementonSouth
Balt
icSeahastendencytoincreaseintheclassofbig
transportvessels.Weespeciallyhavetoconfrontnew
requirements and dangers tied with LNG
transportation ships destined to Polish or Lithuania
seaports. Any collision or act of terror can be
devastating for seaport’s i
nfrastructure and
populationofnearestcities.Sothereisstrongneedfor
close monitoring of ships’ movement on the
approachestoPolishmainseaportsandonthemain
searoutesinSouthBalticSeanearofPolishseaside.
Generally,systemhastobebasedonregulationsfrom
states and organizations.Domestic andint
ernational
Safety of Navigation on the Approaches to the Ports
of the Republic of Poland on the Basis of the Radar
System on the Aerostat Platform
K.Szafran&I.Kramarski
InstituteofAviation,Warsaw,Poland
ABSTRACT:The report depictstechnical andorganizational possibilities with anaim to increase situational
awarenessandseatravelsafetyontheentrytoPolishseaportsonthebaseofthededicatedradarsystemonthe
aerostatplatform.Theradarsystembasedontheaerostatcanworkatthea
ltitudeof3,000meters,whichallows
detecting sea vessels and low level flying aircrafts in the range of 150 nm and more. The aerostat based in
SiemirowicegivesopportunitiestomonitormovementsofseavesselsallovertheSouthBalticSea,startingwith
theLithuanianseasidewithKlaipedaseaportintheeastwheretheseaentersZa
tokaGdańskaandTrójmiasto
seaports,movementsalongthe whole Polish seaside upto Sund Straid nearCopenhagen and searoutes all
along south Swedish coast. On those bases, itis possibleto observe movements of sea transports of special
interestincludingMaersk’sbigcontainervesselsandgasdeliveringvesselstoLithuaniaandtoŚwinoujście.
The proposed radar system is using solutions of towed aerost
ats tested in working conditions which are
exploitedbytheUnitedStatesofAmericatomonitoritsborderwithMexicoandtoobservemovementsofsea
vesselsandlowflyingaircraftsaroundFloridaPeninsulaandPuertoRicoislandsontheCa
ribbean.Theradar
systemsusedbytheUSAaredepictedwithorganizationalrulesoftheirexploitation.Advantagesandthese
advantagesof such a radar system were depicted and some information about dangers related to aerostat’s
exploitation is also provided. Additional possibilit
ies of using the radar system based on the aerostat are
depictedintheroleofanewandimportantpartofthecountry’sdefensesystem.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 9
Number 1
March 2015
DOI:10.12716/1001.09.01.16
130
lawshavetobecomplied.Weneedtobaseonsolid
geo data with known all water and underwater
obstaclesaswellaswaterdeepanditschangeinthe
time.Weneedtoknowactualweatherandseastate
and forecasts for next hours and days. On such
environment
wecanputdataofport’straffic,trackof
approachingvesselsandtheiridentitiesandalertsof
detectedsuspiciousvesselsorfuturesuspectedillegal
activities. We get those data from national or
European agencies, organizations and service
providersandfuseallthedatatoobtainclearpicture
ofactualsituation
andawarenessofpossibledangers.
In ideal world we have to cope with natural
disasters and technical dangers only. But in real
world we have to cope with people’s lack of
knowledge and experiences, tiredness and sickness,
which end up with misinterpretation of facts or
overload. But we also have to
cope with illegal
activities,includingtraffickingofpeople,weaponand
drags and even including acts of terrorism against
high value vessels, passengers, seaport’s
infrastructureandcitizensofseaports.Therearealot
of evidences of usesmall boats for attacking vessels
on the open sea and in seaports, including suicide
attacks to cause many casualties and destroy port’s
infrastructure.
Onthebaseonexperiencesinsomecountrieswe
are proposing aerostat radar system to monitor
activityonapproachestoseaportsandbythismeans
to increase awareness and safety of sea travel and
transportation.
2 TETHEREDAEROSTATRADARSYSTEM
The most
widely used aerostat radar system is
Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) which is
operated by US Homeland Security Department on
USAsouthlandandseaborders[6].
TARS was developed in the 1980s to protect US
southernborder against drag and people trafficking.
Systemiscomposedoftetheredaerostatwith
airborne
radar subsystem and ground base with power to
analyzeradardataandsendthemtocommandposts.
Security system of US southern border is shown in
Figure1.Aerostatscanhover ataltitudeupto 4.500
meters but typical working altitude is 3.000 meter.
Most of TARS aerostats are operating
on land in
Texas,NewMexicoandArizonastates butthereare
alsoaerostatsusedtomonitorStraitsofFlorida (base
onCudjoeKeyislandinKeyWestarchipelago)andof
Puerto Rico (base is on south west side of island).
United Arab Emirates have build base for aerostat
radar
system to monitor movement of vessels in
StraitsofOrmuzwhichistheonlywaytoentertoand
departfromPersianGulf.RepublicofSingaporehas
justannouncedpurchaseofaerostatradarsystemfor
monitoring of Straits of Malacca, one of the most
importantseawaysintheworld.
In
the same time Kingdom of Malaysia has
decidedtopurchaseaerostatradarsystemtomonitor
situationonthenorthpartofBorneoIsland.
Scarce information are only available about
aerostatradarsystemsoperatedinIsraelwithviewon
approaches to Haifa seaport on the Mediterranean
and Gulf of Aqaba on
Red Sea and about aerostats
stationed on the both sides of Strait of Taiwan and
operated by Republic of China (Taiwan) and China
PeopleRepublic.Thereasonforsuchsecrecyisdesire
to protect information about performances of radars
used in those aerostat radar systems. Those aerostat
radar systems primarily are
connect to national
defense systems to provide better awareness and
protectownmilitaryandeconomyassetsagainstany
adversary. The secondary role is the monitoring of
movement of civil vessels and work for safety of
navigationofapproachingforeignerships.Sampleof
sea mobile radar system for aerostat is shown
in
Figure2.
Figure1.TARSaerostatradarsystemlocationsonsouthern
borderofUnitedStatesofAmerica(USCustomsandBorder
Protection‐http://www.cbp.gov/frontline/2014/10/frontline‐
november‐aerostats).
Figure2. Sea Based Aerostat moored to deck of Abshire
Tide vessel (http://www.tcomlp.com/gallery/sea‐based‐
aerostats/)
Aerostat radar systems add new possibilities to
observe sea waters; seasides and seaports from the
air. Using of radars aerostat radar systems can
provide wide range surveillance in ranges up to
hundreds of nautical miles and by using in
combination of electro‐optical sensors (EO) can
recognize approaching vessels and monitor
theirs
behavior on short distances. Such bird view can be
maintained by utilizing fixed wing and rotary
aircrafts. But those assets are typically more costly
andcannotprovidepersistentsurveillancebecauseof
restricted time of flight (fuel consumption and crew
tiredness).Unmannedairsystems(UAS)areentering
marketofpersistent
surveillancebuttheyareattheir
infancy yet and have to confront requirements of
regulationsandmental obstacles. From thecost side