RADARSAT-2 Pre-operational Activities for Maritime Surveillance
Release Date: 21 November 2008

Defence R&D Canada – Ottawa has retained OEA Technologies Incorporated to assist with activities pertaining to maritime surveillance applications of RADARSAT-2. The initiative was launched in Ottawa on 14 November in cooperation with the Canadian Ice Service and the Canadian Space Agency, and is scheduled to be completed by 2009. Targeted maritime surveillance activities include sea-ice surveillance, iceberg detection, ship detection, oil spill detection, surface wind field retrieval and ocean feature detection.

OEA will synthesize prelaunch knowledge of the application of RADARSAT-2's polarimetric capabilities to maritime surveillance. The initiative will largely focus on review of prelaunch investigations involving both spaceborne and airborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors. Intended outcomes include identification of optimal ScanSAR modes, complimentary operating modes and requirements for further investigation.