Simulating Surveillance Options for the Canadian North

As part of the overarching research goal to assess current and potential maritime information sources for use in maritime defence and security in the Canadian north, we examine whether wide-area surveillance data, as represented by Space-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) data, offers sufficient information for surveillance requirements in the Canadian north. If S-AIS data are not sufficient, we address how the additional information provided by Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) can be used to meet the surveillance requirements. A Systems Tool Kit (STK) simulation scenario is constructed that includes five exactEarth satellites collecting AIS data. Simulated AIS transmitters are positioned at 20 northern Canada ground locations. The results indicate that for each location, two thirds of the eight-day simulation is spent without a satellite within range, when using the five satellites. As the number of satellites decreases, intervals in the range of 80 to 105 minutes, during which there are no AIS messages received, increase in frequency. If the end-user requires vessel location information more often than S-AIS consistently provides, augmenting the S-AIS information with LRIT polling should achieve the desired vessel traffic awareness.