ICEYE launches advanced SAR product for enhanced Maritime Domain Awareness

ICEYE launches advanced SAR product for enhanced Maritime Domain Awareness
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 08, 2024

ICEYE, a pioneer in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite operations for Earth observation, has unveiled ICEYE Ocean Vision, a new SAR product line aimed at bolstering maritime domain awareness with actionable intelligence.

With ocean shipping facilitating nearly 75% of global trade, ensuring the safety and legality of maritime operations has become critical amidst rising geopolitical tensions and increasing hazards in international waterways. ICEYE Ocean Vision Detect, the inaugural offering in the ICEYE Ocean Vision product suite, is designed to enhance maritime security by providing detailed insights into vessel locations, sizes, and presence at sea. This enables authorities to swiftly respond to and neutralize potential threats.

Leveraging its capacity to capture more than 80,000 km in a single image, along with its growing satellite constellation and sophisticated algorithms, ICEYE sets a new standard in delivering targeted capabilities for a range of maritime security needs. These include monitoring economic activities, overseeing infrastructure, enforcing policies, and avoiding hazards. The comprehensive capabilities of the ICEYE Ocean Vision portfolio promise consistent, global maritime activity detection, identification, characterization, and tracking.

John Cartwright, SVP and Head of Data Product at ICEYE, emphasizes the significance of maritime awareness as a critical aspect of national security. The vastness of the ocean makes surveillance challenging, but SAR technology, with its ability to highlight vessel signatures against the ocean's backdrop, offers a solution. ICEYE Ocean Vision extends the capabilities of SAR, facilitating access to crucial data for decision-makers in both the public and private sectors during critical maritime incidents.

The unique features of ICEYE's satellite constellation, combined with machine learning and analytical workflows, empower ICEYE Ocean Vision Detect to deliver specialized data layers derived from SAR information. These data layers, enriched with information from additional sources like the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and radio frequency (RF) data, support a broad spectrum of maritime applications. This innovation enables analysts, including those with limited SAR expertise, to monitor areas of interest more efficiently and gain operational insights rapidly.

John Cartwright also noted the success of ICEYE Ocean Vision Detect in recent multinational exercises, where it accurately identified vessels involved in illegal activities. This technology offers significant benefits to environmental NGOs by enabling the tracking of unlawful fishing practices and the surveillance of Marine Protected Areas and other remote locations.