Bangalore: India is installing along its
long coastline a sophisticated surveillance system capable of
tracking movements as distant as 20 kms in the sea with a
command and control centre in Delhi from where the entire
coast can be monitored, officials said here.
Civil works to put in place the system, comprising a
radar, electro-optic sensor and command and control software
are underway.
With the system, "we can monitor any square inch of
the entire sea of the country and see visually," said I V
Sarma, Director (R&D) of Bangalore-headquartered BEL, a
defence electronics company, which developed the system for
the Coast Guard.
In the first phase, these surveillance stations would
come up in 46 sensitive coastal locations by next year-end.
The idea is to start the deployment with the west
coast, sources at Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) said.
"Trials (for testing the system) are over and a formal
contract will be signed with the government before December
end," Sarma, adding "we will start putting equipment from
January onwards".
Though contract negotiations have not been completed,
BEL expects the first phase order to be worth Rs 500 crore to
phase in 46 locations) in the next 10 months to one year (from
January next year)," he said.
While surveillance stations are being put up in
sensitive areas in the first phase, the subsequent second and
third phase to be taken up would address the `gaps` to ensure
that the entire coastal region is covered.
Sarma said cameras in the coastal surveillance system
operate during day and night as well in low-light conditions.
BEL has been working on this project for about an
year.
"The set-up cameras is used for a range of 20 km. Both
radars and camera are capable of going up to a distance of 20
kms into the sea," he said.
Remote operating stations and remote regional
operating centres are being set up at local and regional
levels in different parts of the country, besides a command
and control centre in Delhi.
"You can see a complete a coastline picture. You can
select any zone and see what`s happening," Sarma said.
Data fusion from signals from the radar and
electro-optic sensor would help identify a target, cameras can
be activated and zoomed into it to take visuals of targets 20
kms in sea and "see exactly what`s happening in the ship or
boat or anything.
"So that`s the type of power we give to a person
sitting in Delhi. We can monitor any square inch of the entire
sea of the country and see visually," he added.
PTI
