The Economics & Technology of an Integrated Ocean Surveillance System for Enforcement

Ocean surface surveillance for civil enforcement is more complex in some respects than military surveillance because of the requirement for very detailed information on what the ship is doing and has done and because of the legal requirement for hard evidence of any violation. The partnership between patrol aircraft and surface ships will probably continue to be the keystone but unmanned platforms such as anchored buoys can help. Sensors such as high resolution radar, IR/UV, LLTV and ESM combined with on-board data retrieval and storage and real time data communications can aid the task by helping to optimize resource allocations. A command and control scheme using tight data links and interactive displays can provide timely all-source information. Costs can be quite reasonable compared to the economic benefits. The man is still indispensable, and in the case of on-board observers on foreign vessels competitive with standoff methods.