Absolute Position Fixing Using live-streamed Radar data in ASTERIX format

The GLA have, for some time now, highlighted the extent to which a lot of the World’s industry is dependent upon GNSS as a single point of failure. GNSS signals are comparatively weak, able to be easily swamped by jamming or interference, and both civilian and military GNSS spoofing capability is a rapidly growing threat. A system has been developed that streams live data from a ship’s radar device in Asterix (All-purpose STructured EUROCNTORL Radar Information eXchange) format. The machine learns the radar background and builds a map of conspicuous radar targets, this map is referenced to a Latitude / Longitude datum when GNSS is available. Should GNSS be lost or degraded for any reason, live radar data can be correlated against the map, and the position of the vessel derived. This system operates without user input, and can provide a resilient position solution even in GNSS denied environments. This report presents early results obtained from an installation of this technology onboard a GLA vessel and describes our intended development of the system. This technology is intended to be openly available such that any merchant vessel could incorporate the capability into their existing radar system, for the benefit and safety of all mariners.