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SSAS Proposed for US Homeland Security
01 Mar 2004
The Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) scheduled for introduction by 1 July 2004 is being proposed as part of the best and most logical solution for national homeland security needs. This suggestion has been made to the US Coast Guard following the recent request it made to industry for technical solutions to its long-range vessel tracking needs In a submission from Thales Navigation Ltd it was pointed out that the high level of interest being shown in AIS will result in disappointment unless the technology is supported by a means of long-range communication and position data recall. The solution proposed by Thales is based on its Tracs-SSAS unit which contains a continuous GPS data memory of up to two years. The unit can be interrogated remotely via its Inmarsat-C link and used to supply and download the ship's route history thereby satisfying the US Coast Guard's need for information about its past activity. The entire process can be conducted automatically and without any input from, or even the knowledge of, the ship's crew.
The US Coast Guard was advised that because AIS was developed as a collision avoidance and identification system it cannot meet the most important requirement of Coast Guard and national security organisations.
This is its need to know where the ship has been sailing in the weeks or months prior to being identified through its AIS contact. At present the only other hardware likely to be carried by a ship that contains any sailing history would be its Voyage Data Recorder.
It will, however, be some years before a significant percentage of ships are equipped with VDRs and even then the data they contain will not usually be accessible remotely. In most cases Coast Guard officers will have to board a suspect ship and extract the VDR hard drive for analysis - a labour intensive process that does not meet the needs of the USCG.
The AIS / Tracs-SSAS combination is consequently being proposed as the most effective and economical solution available to any government with a commitment to national security. This is because any authorised port controller who observes a suspicious ship on his Vessel Traffic System can obtain its identity through its AIS.
If desired, computerised systems can then automatically call-up the ship's Inmarsat-C link and download the route history from its Tracs-SSAS. With their identities on record, suspicious ships could be called-up at random at any time wherever they are in the world. Any attempt by the ship operator to block or alter the Tracs-SSAS unit's responses would be noticeable and would simply make the ship subject to closer scrutiny by other means.
A major benefit that the AIS/ Tracs-SSAS combination would have for many nations would be its minimal cost. Security monitoring would be achieved without the need for any equipment other than the port's own AIS base station. The only expense incurred would be the small cost of the satellite call made to obtain the ship's route data. This is provided at zero cost and inconvenience to the ship operator.
MJ Information 19204
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