ESA mulighetsstudie for et europeisk satellittbasert AIS system - avsluttende rapport og abstrakt

This report reproduces the reports ”Abstract” and ”Final Report”, that FFI produced for the European Space Agency under the contract: ”Contract No. 20492/06/NL/JA – Technology reference and proof of concept for a space based automated identification system for maritime security”. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of a European operational system for monitoring ships by the reception of AIS signals from satellites. The reports present the summary of the results found in the study. Kongsberg Seatex together with Norspace has contributed with studies of an AIS receiver for space, while Surrey Satellite Technology Limited contributed with studies of possible satellite platforms and possible constellations. As well as being prime, FFI has had the main activity in the areas of signal analysis, user requirements, data policy and regulations, as well as mission concept both for a full operational system and a demonstrator. The study found that a global system for receiving AIS signals in space is achievable for most areas of the world, but that a few areas exist where challenges still remains. It strongly recommends building a demonstration satellite before concluding on the design of an operational system. The suggested demonstrator should be a satellite in low Earth orbit with three orthogonal monopole antennas, which can handle both signal processing on-board and on ground. ESA has used the results of the study to continue the work on space based AIS, with new studies on both receiver development and a possible demonstration satellite, as well as further studies on an operational concept.