PROJECT POLAR EPSILON: JOINT SPACE-BASED WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE AND SUPPORT CAPABILITY*

摘要

Project Polar Epsilon: Joint Space-Based Wide Area Surveillance and Support Capability, a capital project within Canada’s Defence program, will use Canada’s RADARSAT 2 as a contributing sensor and enable all-weather, day/night persistent surveillance of Canada’s Arctic region and ocean approaches. Project Polar Epsilon is a transformational initiative to introduce space-based wide area surveillance to Canadian Government marine surveillance stakeholders. Through RADARSAT 2, Polar Epsilon will provide wide area domain awareness over Canada’s ocean approaches and Arctic region. Accordingly, much effort is being expended in algorithm development to innovate the potential of RADARSAT 2 for the sovereignty and surveillance mission. Capabilities that are being developed and which will be demonstrated during the definition phase of the project include: land surveillance of Canada’s Arctic Region via change detection techniques; ship detection; environmental sensing and ocean intelligence; direct satellite reception and processing; near-real time dissemination; and mission planning tools for satellite selection