Multi-use HF radar for arctic maritime domain awareness

With the increased interest and presence that the U.S. Coast Guard has in the Arctic [1] there is also a rising need for increased Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) from autonomous sensors in this area. From June through November 2012, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) deployed and maintained three Long Range SeaSonde@ HF Surface Wave Radars operating in the 5 MHz band and two High Resolution SeaSondes operating in the 25 MHz band to map hourly ocean surface currents in the Chukchi Sea during the summer and fall. With funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Center for Islands, Maritime, and Extreme Environments Security (CIMES), UAF partnered with Rutgers University, a partner in the DHS Center for Secure and Resilient Maritime Commerce (CSR) and CODAR Ocean Sensors to demonstrate multi-use MDA capability of SeaSondes to provide vessel detections simultaneously with surface current maps near Barrow, Alaska. The Arctic region poses challenges to HF Radar vessel detection including: remote locations requiring specialized shelter, power and communications; extreme weather; the presence of ice floes, which have their own Doppler echoes in addition to sea clutter; and a different radio environment with auroral influences. Vessel detection results are shown with corresponding AIS data, the effect of diurnal ionosphere activity on HF Doppler spectra is shown and the performance of the UAF remote power module (RPM) is discussed.