RKS: Onboard equipment for the space system of global vessel surveillance

2022: Announcement of onboard equipment for the space system of global vessel surveillance

On September 19, 2022, the Russian Space Systems company announced the completion of the creation of the next generation Russian equipment for the space system for global observation of ships. Current information about world shipping, the location and condition of ships, the "navigation history" of each - such data will be collected and processed by onboard equipment for the development of RKS on domestic satellites in conjunction with receiving stations on Earth.

RKS completed the creation of Russian equipment for the space system of global observation of ships

According to the company, as of September 2022, the Marinetraffic service is popular, which allows you to track the location of ships. The service is based on the registration of radio signals of the automatic identification system (AIS), which ships exchange with coastal services, as well as with each other. However, remote areas of the seas and oceans remain inaccessible to receiving equipment located on the shore. The solution to this problem is to install AIS signal receivers on low-orbit satellites that will receive information from ships in all areas of the world's oceans. The first batch of AIS equipment was developed in the "Russian Space Systems" for installation on board low-orbit spacecraft.

Thanks to the RKS equipment, you can quickly find out where the ship is located at a particular moment in time, it is moving or anchored, its type (passenger, fishing, cargo ship, tanker), flag, call sign, name, port of destination, approximate arrival time and a number of other parameters. The value is also represented by the "history" of the movement of ships, which makes it possible to analyze shipping in the region, protect borders, identify sources of water pollution and much more. told Sergey Bobrovsky, head of the multifunctional navigation and information center of the RKS

The unified on-board AIS equipment, created as part of the first stage, has characteristics at the level of world analogues, is built on domestic electronic components according to the concept of an integrated on-board information system (IBIS), which optimizes its production, reduces cost and allows upgrading to different types of satellites. As of September 2022, the next stage of work is underway to modernize the on-board AIS equipment in versions that allow them to be placed on small spacecraft of promising space systems.

The development of the satellite segment of the system of automatic identification of ships, the introduction of information protocols for the exchange of data in the frequency range of the marine mobile service optimize the safety of world shipping. In addition, space technologies can be used in solving economic problems. In particular, they will provide control of the Russian fishing fleet, since they allow monitoring the location of the vessel and its equipment, transferring electronic fishing logs and receiving data from coastal services.