Should an incident such as a collision or near miss occur within the Port, recording and playback allows subsequent analysis and investigation of both the incident itself and the buildup period, helping to establish the facts. It can also be a useful training aid. Alarm zones can be useful in monitoring prohibited or sensitive areas and auto acquire zones automatically initiate the tracking of targets in specified areas, helping the operator by highlighting the moving traffic in the area.

Ledwood Technology has recently upgraded its IRIS radar to meet the specific needs of the small port market, where it is achieving some success. It now includes all the features needed by a port, including recording and playback, auto tracking, alarm zones, charts, AIS data input and CCTV at a basic price which is comparable to a standard ship’s radar. As well as low initial cost, it is computer based and has low maintenance costs.

Having a computer based system provides other benefits such as the ability to network the radar to several displays, possibly in different locations or even different organisations. For example, the port radar displays can be located in Port Control, but the pilots and marina operators could have separate displays in their offices. It is particularly important to have radar where commercial traffic is combined with leisure traffic.

Two recent IRIS installations have been at the ports of Fowey and Heysham in the UK. At Fowey, the inclusion of CCTV in the system has allowed surveillance of parts of the harbour which are invisible from the harbour offices. The radar scanner is also sited remotely from the offices and the data sent back by a wireless link. At Heysham, which has experienced spectacular growth in traffic to Ireland and the Isle of Man, the recording and playback system has proved an invaluable analysis tool.

MJ Information No: 22512